Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a bill into law Saturday that will impose new regulations on abortion clinics in Virginia, which critics say may limit access to abortions.
The law will require abortion clinics that offer first-trimester abortions to meet the same standards as hospitals instead of physician's offices, where colonoscopies may be performed.
"The legislation is meant to provide safeguards to women who are going to these clinics for treatment," McDonnell spokesperson Jeff Caldwell said in an email. "The legislation requires that these outpatient surgery centers meet certain criteria to protect patients' health."
These regulations would require clinics to change architecturally, said Jessica Honke, director of public policy of the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia. "They would have to build to specific code regulations like certain widths of a doorway and height of a ceiling, even to the kind of grass that you have outside."
A new Planned Parenthood health center in Richmond was built to meet these regulations preemptively, Honke said, noting the project cost $4 million.
"It would be very expensive for these health centers to change their buildings to meet regulations," Honke said. Planned Parenthoods would have to meet these expensive changes or have to stop providing the service, "which means that women wouldn't have access to abortion," she added.
David Nova, vice president of Planned Parenthood Health Systems, said the governor's action may limit services.
"Anything that requires us to be a type of hospital will likely increase administrative costs, which would make all of our services more difficult for women to access," Nova said.
Many of the health centers provide contraception, HIV testing and cancer screenings, Nova said, and about 95 percent of the services Planned Parenthood provides are preventative in nature.
"But if they could not afford to stay open, they would have to close their doors and stop providing their services as well," Honke said.
Nova said he believed the legislation was intended to limit abortions, and that it particularly will impact the underprivileged.
"If you are wealthy and insured, you can quietly go to your OBGYN and get your abortion procedure," Nova said, adding this is not the case for women who are poor or uninsured who rely on the abortion clinics for services. "It's affecting those that have the least ability to access care."
Proponents of the bill argue that its purpose is not to limit abortions, but to make them safer and more hygienic.
Senate Bill 924 states it aims to "assure the environmental protection and the life safety of its patients, employees and the public."
The bill will go to the Board of Health, which will decide upon the terms of regulation Sept. 15.
The bill was passed through what is called emergency regulation, attached to Bill 924 sent to the Senate. The bill originally included mandates concerning hospitals, nursing homes and regulations about disaster preparedness, Honke said. At first, "it had nothing to do with abortion health centers," she said.
Once it reached the House, the bill was amended to include abortion clinics. The amendment was offered by Del. Kathy Byron, R-Lynchburg.
"[The amendment] was just heard on the floor without any public comments," Honke said.
The Board of Health will research other states and their laws concerning abortion clinics. A meeting will be held and regulations will be discussed Sept. 15. If the regulations are approved, they will go into effect Jan. 1, 2012.
Public input will be sought during the board's meeting prior to adopting the new regulations, Caldwell said, which will be "required in the law to be established within six months of the passage of the legislation."
Honke said she hopes clinics where abortions are performed will not be categorized as either hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers, but designated an entirely new category.
"My guess is they will create a fourth category of a type of hospital that would be specific to those who provide four or more first trimester abortions a month," Nova said.
Honke also added she hopes these regulations are based on medicine and science, not on politics.
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