WASHINGTON — The saga over Virginia’s regulations of abortion clinics continued Thursday as the Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates passed a budget amendment that would block the state board of health from implementing any changes to the rules.
The amendment, introduced by Del. Bob Marshall (R), was aimed at halting Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) push to ease existing regulations on abortion clinics. Advocates for abortion rights often refer to those rules as TRAP laws, or targeted regulations of abortion providers.
When Republican Robert McDonnell, McAuliffe’s predecessor, was governor, the state board of health passed regulations requiring clinics to meet the same physical building standards as ambulatory surgical centers, incorporating specific ventilation systems, parking lot designs, hallway widths and covered entrances. Virginia’s health commissioner at the time resigned in protest over the rules, which critics said were too expensive and unnecessarily restrictive.
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Cianti Steward-Reid, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, argued Friday that the legislature should instead be working to pass a Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, as both chambers also rejected expanding the program in their respective budgets Thursday.
“Members of the General Assembly should focus their efforts on providing health care to the 400,000 hardworking Virginians in need, rather than attempting to deny, once again, women and families access to lifesaving cancer screenings, birth control, and safe legal abortion,” she said.
