Gov. McDonnell's signature on clinic regs bill irks abortion advocates

Gov. Bob McDonnell's formal endorsement of legislation directing the state to create tougher regulations on clinics where 5 or more first trimester abortions are performed monthly wasn't unexpected, but it still drew an outcry from some interest groups.

Here's a sampling of what they said:

"This bill is part of an unprecedented political campaign at the state and federal levels to undermine women’s access to safe, legal reproductive health care services," said Jessica Honke of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.

"As a trusted health care provider for more than 70 years in Virginia, Planned Parenthood’s first priority is always the health and safety of our patients," she added.

Honke said "reproductive health care services are among the safest and mostly commonly sought forms of care in the United States, and health centers that specialize in reproductive care are already among the state’s most rigorously regulated and scrutinized health care providers. Laws that make it more difficult for health centers to provide health care only make it harder for women and couples to plan their families and access critical reproductive health care services, including life-saving cancer screenings, family planning, and STI testing and treatment, not just abortion."

Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, equated McDonnell's signature on SB 924 to a "distressing day for the women of Virginia and their access to safe, affordable reproductive health care in the Commonwealth."

"Through a legally questionable and ethically indefensible political gimmick, Gov. McDonnell has pushed through legislation that may result in politically motivated regulations of first trimester abortion providers that have nothing to do with medicine and everything to do with the General Assembly and governor’s personal ideology," she added. "Gov. McDonnell’s signing of this potentially far-reaching bill into law is not an isolated act. The governor, along with the attorney general and their like-minded allies in the legislature, are intent on using the government to further interfere in our personal, private decisions."

ACLU of Virginia executive director Kent Willis characterized the bill signed by the governor as a "targeted regulation of abortion providers," or TRAP law, intended to make abortions too expensive for clinics to offer them, or women to afford them.

Willis, who said the new law specifically targets "abortion providers for completely unwarranted and burdensome regulations," has hinted that a lawsuit could be filed challenging clinic regulations now being developed by the Board of Health.

"We'll be closely monitoring how the board proceeds with its deliberations, and while no one in state government is completely immune from politics, we are hopeful that professionalism will ultimately win out over politics," he said.

-- Julian Walker

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