Abortion clinics in Virginia would have to abide by the same rules as hospitals under a new draft of regulations released by the Virginia Department of Health Friday, should they be passed by the Board of Health and signed into law by Gov. Bob McDonnell.
The regulations come after the General Assembly passed a bill in February requiring the department to change its guidelines for such clinics and women's health centers. The board will vote on the new regulations Sept. 15. If approved, Virginia would join 22 other states that classify abortion clinics as hospitals.
Among the changes the abortion clinics face are "periodic, unannounced on-site inspections" and prohibited use of elective anaesthesia in abortion procedures.
Pro-choice advocates argue that these regulations could jeopardize the operations of more than 80 percent of the abortion clinics in the state.
The issue has pitted pro-life advocates, who tend to support the heightened regulations because they argue that they will help increase the safety of women receiving abortions, against pro-choice advocates, who contend that the regulations are more motivated by anti-abortion politics than by concerns about women's health.
"I think abortion is a significant medical procedure," said Del. William Howell, R-Stafford, who voted to support the bill as the Speaker of the Virginia State House of Delegates, State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said he worries the regulations will pass the board and be signed by McDonnell.
This is a case of "overregulation of a simple process," he said, adding that the new rules will only make safe abortions less accessible to low-income women.
"This [bill] is absolutely not about women's health," said Jessica Honke, public policy director for Planned Parent Advocates of Virginia. "This is an attempt to single out women's health centers."
Honke said the most onerous regulations were those relating to new structural and architectural changes to women's health facilities, which require older clinics to abide by regulations put in place for new clinics.
"Politics, not public health, is the driving force behind these regulations," Honke said.
Howell disagreed.
"That is patently untrue," Howell said in response to critics who accused the bill's supporters of playing politics. "[The bill was passed] for the health of women."
If the regulations are signed into law, they will be implemented with the start of the new year.
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