BRISTOL, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) — A Virginia abortion clinic was recently sued by their landlords, who claim that they were unaware that their leased space would be used to kill the unborn.
Kilo Delta LLC, which is owned by brothers Chase and Chadwick King, filed a lawsuit on December 7 against Bristol Women’s Health, the organization’s owner, and a doctor involved in founding the abortion business. The brothers are requesting a termination of the lease; the defendants have until December 28 to respond to the lawsuit.
The building owners argue that those who opened the facility “willfully concealed” their intent to commit abortions in the space, according to a local news report. They added that Kilo Delta LLC “has suffered great financial loss and lost business opportunity; been forced to suffer in its reputation and endure humiliation within their business and social circles; [and] been required to endure great mental anguish.”
“According to the suit…the Kings were told in May that a prospective tenant was interested in a small office building they had available for lease near the Bristol Casino,” the Cardinal News article continues. “A letter of intent from the tenant’s real estate broker listed the proposed use of the building as a ‘medical clinic.’ The suit claims that in conversations, the broker ‘represented that the type of medical practice of her clients was a general family practice’.”
Diane Derzis, the owner of the abortion business, blames the brothers for not knowing about the clinic, saying that “she has never tried to hide what she does.” Upon learning that the facility was going to be used as an abortion clinic, the Kings stated that they were “morally opposed” to this practice and “would never have leased the property” to the organization had they known their intentions.
“The broker tried to negotiate an amendment to the lease agreement that would allow only medical abortions within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, but the Kings refused and demanded that the lease be terminated. The defendants instead moved forward with work on the clinic, the suit said.”
The lawsuit seeks to end the lease agreement as well as “unspecified monetary damages.”
LifeSiteNews contacted the plaintiff’s attorney’s office for further information about the complaint but did not immediately receive a response.
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The building’s owners initially expressed concern when they learned that the doctor who signed the lease alongside the clinic’s owner is an abortionist from Tennessee. This information was realized after the lease was signed in June and less than a month before Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Bristol Women’s Health offers only abortions at their facility. According to the organization’s website, women can obtain abortion pills up to 11 weeks’ gestation, and surgical abortions are committed up to 16 weeks.
The Bristol Regional Women’s Center, an abortion clinic located in Bristol, Tennessee—the state line between Virginia and Tennesse runs through the city—also killed the unborn through medication and surgical abortions up to 14 weeks. Their website states that the centre offers “most types of gynecological services.”
This abortion business was forced to stop committing abortions in the Tri-Cities area when, after Roe’s reversal, Tennessee’s two-year-old ban on aborting babies with beating hearts took effect, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews. The ban, initially signed in 2020 by Republican Gov. Bill Lee, insists that an ultrasound is performed by a doctor before committing an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected, the abortion is not allowed to take place.
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Dr. Wesley Adams, one of the defendants in the current lawsuit and a doctor at the Regional Women’s Center, supported the opening of the Virginia clinic, which does not face the same abortion limitations as Tennessee facilities. The state of Virginia currently allows abortion on demand through 28 weeks and even until birth for certain “health” reasons.
In October, the Bristol City Council voted to pass a zoning resolution to prohibit the building and expansion of abortion facilities within city limits. Although it requires further steps to become law, the resolution would prevent abortion clinics from moving or expanding their facilities from Tennessee to Virginia to avoid statewide bans.