Cowardly sneak attack on Virginia abortion clinics

From Huffington Post:

There are 22 facilities that provide first-trimester abortions in Virginia, and all of them may have to close their doors over the next two years if they can’t meet the state government’s rigorous new health clinic regulations.

Virginia lawmakers passed legislation in the spring that required the Department of Health to release a set of “emergency” draft regulations for abortion clinics that were to go into effect by December 31.

The rules, released late on Friday, borrow a number of very specific physical plant requirements from a rulebook intended for the construction of new hospitals. For instance, a clinic must have 5-foot-wide hallways, 8-foot-wide areas outside of procedure rooms, specific numbers of toilets and types of sinks and all the latest requirements for air circulation flow and electrical wiring.

“On the first read, it seems hard to imagine that many facilities will be able to comply,” Jordan Goldberg, state advocacy counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights, told HuffPost. “We can fairly say that the regulations as drafted are the most severe, onerous and restrictive that have been proposed anywhere. They’re intended to apply to facilities that don’t yet exist.”

If the Board of Health passes the new standards on September 15, abortion clinics have until January to show the state a plan for the extensive and expensive renovations they’ll have to undergo in order to meet the new requirements.

The new regulations are especially onerous and are in place to make abortion unattainable because no provider can meet the standards of the new hospital regulations.  Unfortunately, this entire assault is very disingenuous.  If the anti-abortion crew or the state of Virginia really cared about the health of women (and men too, for that matter) they would impose the same standards on other outpatient medical centers that offer invasive dental, cosmetic, optical and digestive procedures.  These non-abortion outpatient centers currently  don’t face similar state oversight, yet they often involve very invasive medical techniques. 

Perhaps all outpatient surgery/invasive procedure centers need an upgrade.  If that is the case, let’s level the playing field and put the same standards in place for all.  Otherwise, let’s just be honest and say the purpose of the bill to make it impossible to perform first trimester abortions in Virginia.  Let’s admit that  in reality  a minority wanted to impose its will on the majority.  It didn’t have the votes to outlaw abortion so it tricked foolish lawmakers into this insidious sneak attack to make abortion simply unattainable in Virginia. 

This really was a cowardly vote. However, Virginians were warned last election.  I guess they will have to live with it or travel outside of the state if they need services. 

 

Prince William County Entrance Exam 2011 Edition

Guest contributor: Our very own MoM with an exam to see if you can live in Prince William County.

Some will pass, some will fail.

The following is the opinion of the poster and does not necessarily represent the views of moonhowlings.net administration.

 M-H

 

Prince William County Entrance Exam – 2011 Edition

 

1. Speak English ___Yes ___ No ___ Que?

If No or Que? proceed to question 12

2. Employed ___Yes 1099/W2/Self-Employed ___ No ___ Other

If No or Other proceed to question 12

3. How do you get to your place of employment ___car ___bike ___ mass-transit

If bike or mass-transit proceed to question 12

4. Disposable Income ___Yes ___ No

If no, do you still intend to contribute to Chairman Stewart’s Campaign ___Yes ___No

If no proceed to question 12

5. Are you familiar with the Rural Crescent ___Yes ___No

If yes, is the Rural Crescent ___Bad Policy ___Good Policy ___A liberal plot

If Good Policy proceed to question 12

6. Are you or any family members named Elena, Alanna or Babur ___Yes ___No

If Yes proceed to question 12

7. Land Use attorneys are ___Source of Campaign Fund ___Friends ___Evil

If Evil proceed to question 12

8. Do you intend to keep chickens in the Development Area ___Yes ___No

If Yes will you restrict your location to Woodbridge or Neabsco ___Yes ___No

If no proceed to question 12

9. Are you a member of the NRA, VCDL, GOP or Chamber of Commerce ___Yes ___No

If No, are you willing to join ___Yes ___No

If no proceed to question 12

10. Local gridlock is the fault of ___PWC ___General Assembly ___Congress

If PWC proceed to question 12

11. Can you write a check in the amount of $1000.00 to “Friends of Corey” ___Yes ___No

If Yes proceed to Question 13

12. Thank you for playing the game, we have your information and will have an officer escort you out of the county. We suggest you make an application to live in Arlington or Fairfax.

13. Welcome to Prince William County. We will expect payment within ten days, failure to remit funds in a timely fashion will void your application, incur a $500.00 processing charge and will force us to have you and your belongings escorted to the County Line by the County Executive.

 

 

 

Manufactured Hysteria?

Conservative commentator and columnist George Will has excoriated the media for spreading “manufacturing synthetic hysteria” over Hurricane Irene. 

 

 

 

According to FoxNews.com:

Observing such was George Will on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday who told his fellow panelists, “Whatever else you want to say about journalism, it shouldn’t subtract from the nation’s understanding and it certainly shouldn’t contribute to the manufacture of synthetic hysteria that is so much a part of modern life”

Will also added:

I have a home on South Carolina’s Atlantic Coast. I know that the Atlantic Ocean generates hurricanes, and they can be dangerous and unpredictable. That said, this too must be said: Florence Nightingale said, “Whatever else you can say about hospitals, they shouldn’t make their patients sicker.” And whatever else you want to say about journalism, it shouldn’t subtract from the nation’s understanding and it certainly shouldn’t contribute to the manufacture of synthetic hysteria that is so much a part of modern life. And I think we may have done so with regard to this tropical storm as it now seems to be.

 

Looking at scenes out of New Jersey, upstate New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, one wonders how George Will likes his crow served up?  If nothing else, the press under-reported the damage that was done to North Carolina’s Outer Banks. 

Was the press responsible in its coverage of Hurricane Irene?  Many of those reporters were out there in harm’s way, hanging on for dear life just to bring us the news.   The hurricane will cost upwards of 10 billion dollars and 40 people lost their lives.   Who wants to help George Will eat some crow?