RICHMOND — The Virginia Board of Health voted Friday to require clinics that perform abortions to meet strict, hospital-style building codes that operators say could put many of them out of business.
The 11 to 2 vote represented the board’s final say on the matter, which has taken unexpected twists and turns since the General Assembly voted in 2011 to regulate abortion clinics like outpatient surgical centers. The regulations went straight to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R), who quickly certified them. They now go to two state agencies and Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), who is expected to sign off on them.
Make no mistake, these TRAP laws do not make abortion safer nor do they protect women. TRAP laws simply make it more difficult and expensive to provide safe, legal abortion. Anyone who thinks differently has been misled by political opponents who want to end legal abortion.
This 2-year long battle over access to abortion began when Democratic Senator Chuck Colgan betrayed his Democratic colleagues and voted with Republicans to enact legislation that would require all abortion clinics in Virginia to retro-fit the structure in to a mini hospital using architectural codes to emulate a full service medical facility. Other hospital-like conditions also would be required. When the State Board of Health voted to grandfather in existing clinics, Attorney General Cuccinelli theatened to throw anyone of the board to the wolves should a lawsuit transpire. The chairman resigned and members unwillingly voted as Cuccinelli commanded. After a series of legal gyrations, the TRAP laws are finally complete.
Many abortion clinics will predictably close. Abortion which is a legal procedure in the United States will be inaccessible in most areas in Virginia. It’s a shame that Uber-conservatives in Virginia don’t value rule of law when it comes to all laws. Rule of Law seems to only apply to laws they want to keep. The end result will be that the women of Virginia will insist that many the political clowns who took away their rights will lose their jobs this fall.
Virginians will elect politicians who trust the residents of Virginia to make their own morally correct decisions and those who do not want government making deeply personal decisions for them.
At what point will Cuccinelli decide that too much government involvement is too much?
Further reading:
History of Virginia’s TRAP laws
Older Moonhowlings post on TRAP
The Repugs are hypocrites. They talk a lot about the evils of big government but do not practice it. They defy the wishes of the people by these slimy end runs. Cuckoonelli should have resigned by now torun for governor, just as a dozen or so if his predecessor did.
The Gosnell murder trial in Philadelphia suggests that regulation of abortion clinics is not exactly frivolous. According to the linked article, Kermit Gosnell is accused of severing the spinal cord of seven babies that survived the abortion procedure and killing a woman due to a drug overdose. The abortion clinic run by Gosnell was described as “squalid”, and a grand jury said that Gosnell spread STDs with infected instruments, perforated bowels and wombs, and caused at least two deaths.
So one can debate whether the regulation passed in VA is too stringent or not, but it is hard to say that it is entirely uncalled for, given the grisly example of the Gosnell case in nearby Philadelphia.
http://news.yahoo.com/media-spotlight-falls-philadelphia-abortion-doctor-trial-murder-004137344.html
I am going to call bullshit on that one. Gosnell is a bad apple. He is a criminal regardless of the type of medicine he practices. He should go to jail if he is found guilty. All the regulation in the world won’t make him or anyone like him a good guy.
I don’t see where architectural structure is going to help patients. It isn’t. That is the kind of regulation that was put in place with the TRAP laws.
I am not opposed to regulations if they are applied equally across the board for all who practice any type of medicine. The reason regulation of abortion clinics in Virginia has been opposed is rules are used to politically harass. Clinics all have to go through OSHA regulations and standards and can be federally inspected.
Pro-choice people oppose the goings on of Gosnell as much or more than anti – choice people. He is no different than a back alley abortionist. He is not being held up as the standard. He is, as I said, a bad apple.