Saturday, September 15, 2012

McDonnell and Cuccinelli Fight War on Women in Virginia




From Ms. Magazine:
Today the Virginia Board of Health met and voted 13-2 to reverse their June decision to grandfather in existing clinics, exempting them from new, hospital-like restrictions for the state's abortion clinics, commonly called TRAP laws or Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers. Instead, the board has allowed existing clinics to come into compliance with regulations within two years or face closure.

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli refused to accept the grandfather provision asserting the board did not have the authority to amend the regulations. Cuccinelli also released a memo on Wednesday, threatening Board of Health members by telling them, according to the Virginia Pilot, that "they could be denied state legal counsel and [would] have to pay for their own defense if they again disregard his advice about relaxing controversial abortion clinic rules and litigation ensues."

. . . The Board of Health meeting was packed today, with people filling both the board room and an overflow room and some 200 people standing outside who couldn't gain admission. During the time set aside by the Board for public comment 14 pro-choice, abortion access supporters spoke, including representatives from Planned Parenthood, ACLU and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Eleven anti-abortion opponents, including National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Virginia Family Foundation, also spoke. After the Board reversed its decision, some pro-choice advocates walked out of the room, chanting "shame shame, you don't care if women die."







Shame! Shame! You don't give a sh** about women living in Virginia.
~ Anonymous woman shouting after the Virginia Board of Health caved in to pressure from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and made a resolution that might close down 15-20 abortion clinics across the state.


"We're not lawyers. We're not politicians. We're a completely apolitical body, and suddenly we're thrown in a completely political situation. And I don't think we coped very well.
~ James Edmondson, Jr., member of the Virginia Board of Health


This board decision is an underhanded method to make abortion inaccessible and outrageously expensive. Without clinics there is no choice for women. It threatens women's health and lives because many women's health clinics in Virginia may be forced out of business. These unnecessary and arbitrary rules will result in Virginia women having restricted access to not only abortion services but also to low-cost birth control services, cancer screenings, and sexually transmitted disease testing, as well as other women's health services.
~ Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation






































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