The Virginia Senate's Education and Health Committee rejected a bill Thursday requiring abortion clinics to meet the same health and safety standards as outpatient surgery centers.
The Committee voted 9-6 to reject the bill, which would have forced abortion clinics in Virginia to upgrade to hospital-like standards.
A similar bill recently passed through the Virginia House of Delegates.
Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, was the chief patron for Senate Bill 146, which called for regulating abortion clinics according to hospital standards. The bill originally was presented and referred to the Education and Health Committee Jan. 14.
David Nova, president of Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, said the architectural requirements of the bill alone would have forced most clinics to close.
"The presumption that this bill would make abortions safer is categorically not true," Nova said. "It is a bill designed to make abortions expensive, if not nearly impossible."
Nova added that abortions only make up a small percentage of the services Planned Parenthood performs. He said in order to make up for renovation costs required if the bill had been passed, his organization would have had to increase the costs of services such as birth control.
Cuccinelli disagreed, saying that abortion clinics need to improve the quality of their facilities, and to implement minimum safety regulations.
"The clinics are clearly performing well below the standards of other medical environments," Cuccinelli said. "They are being visited by EMTs to save their own patients."
The bill would have required hallways in clinics to be wide enough to allow two gurneys to pass each other, Nova said.
Nova added that in the Roanoke branch of Planned Parenthood, they only have one gurney and they have never used it.
"This is another hurdle for women to obtain what is constitutionally guaranteed to them," Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said.
Saslaw is a Committee member who voted against the bill. He added that these bills are predominantly proposed by men and that it should not be up to them to decide.
"The consequence of this bill would have meant the closing of all but one clinic in Virginia, so it's hard not to see the subversive attempts," said Lindsay Prevette, University Voices for Planned Parenthood president.
Christine Elliott, vice president of First Right, a pro-life student group at the University, said the rejection of this bill was a disappointment to her group.
She said her organization hopes that these standards soon will be addressed in some form.
"Safety for women in abortions is the main concern we want to address," Elliott said. "The safety regulations in abortion clinics are less stringent than veterinary clinics."
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