Virginia Board of Health Approves First Step for Amending Targeted Restrictions of Abortion Providers
Richmond, VA - Following years of advocacy by the ACLU of Virginia and the Virginia Coalition to Protect Women’s Health, today science and medicine prevailed over politics when the Virginia Board of Health voted to approve a Notice of Intent for Regulatory Action (NOIRA) to amend rules for women’s health care centers in Virginia that provide five or more abortions per month. This is a major step toward ensuring that the rules governing women’s health centers are based in medicine, not politics.
“We applaud the Board of Health for standing up for medicine over politics. The existing medically-unnecessary rules are not about patient safety. Instead, they are designed to close quality women’s health centers that provide family planning, cancer screenings, primary care, as well as safe, legal abortion. We will continue to advocate for medicine over politics throughout the next steps of the regulatory process,” said Kathy Greenier, ACLU of Virginia Reproductive Freedom Project Director. The existing rules were passed over the objections of doctors and medical experts, hundreds of whom have publicly denounced the rules.
“We’re all committed to ensuring patient health and safety, but the current rules for women’s health care centers in Virginia don’t do that,” said Dr. Kris Kennedy, an OBGYN from Virginia who spoke at today’s meeting. “That’s why I am delighted that the Board of Health voted yes on the NOIRA today. Hundreds of medical experts - including Dr. Karen Remley, the former Virginia Health Commissioner, the Virginia Chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and OBGYN’s like me - oppose these restrictions. Passage of the NOIRA opens the door to ensuring these medically unnecessary restrictions are revised, and our safe, trusted women’s health care centers that provide important preventive care and abortion services can remain open.”
On May 12, 2014 Governor McAuliffe directed the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to review the medically-unnecessary rules for women’s health care centers in Virginia. During the review’s public comment period, VDH received 10,600 comments in favor of amending or repealing the regulations. On October 1, 2014, the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Marissa Levine, recommended amending the rules, triggering the NOIRA brought before the Board for a vote today.
Now that the Board has voted yes on the NOIRA, the executive branch has approximately 30 days to review and authorize the NOIRA. Executive branch authorization will trigger a 30 day public comment period. Specific regulatory language will be drafted and voted on at a later date.
