Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Virginia Department of Health
 
Board
State Board of Health
 
chapter
Regulations for Licensure of Abortion Facilities [12 VAC 5 ‑ 412]
Action Amend the Regulation after Assessment and Receipt of Public Comment
Stage NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 10/31/2018
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10/29/18  9:33 pm
Commenter: Sheila Furey, MD

Abortion is a surgical procedure and should be regulated in order to protect the lives of women
 

Abortion is a surgical procedure. It is a procedure that carries the risk of perforation of the uterine wall, heavy bleeding, failure to remove all of body parts, infection, and risk of anthesia. Woman are often not informed of the true risk of the procedure: risk of infertility, uterine tear and resultant emergency hysterectomy, the increased risk of breast cancer because the pleuripotent cells of the breast that have been stimulated because of the pregnancy hormonal surge and this hormonal surge is not ending in a live birth. Thus the cells are left in a pleuripotent state increasing the risk of breast cancer. These are just the medical complications. This does not speak to the psychiatric complications of depression, anxiety, addiction and PTSD. This is not a benign procedure. The regulations for dental procedures and other out patient surgical procedures that are less invasion require significantly higher clinic standards. Further, there is very little to no doctor-patient relationship. The woman who enters a clinic to have an elective abortion typically does not return for follow up. They do not report their complications and many suffer the consequences of not reporting the complications and receiving treatment for those complications. It is critical that patient be well inform and that all standard health care regulations be applied to all out patient surgical centers. Example 1: patient did not have to wait 24 hours or have an ultra sound prior to abortion. Every day she wonders what her baby would be like. She recalls the due date, the abortion date and dreams of the baby she does not have. She reported that if one person would have told her to keep the baby she would have. She suffers some severe depression. Additionally, she bled for weeks following the abortion. She was unable to get out of bed without becoming dizzy. It is a miracle she did not die. This was from a legal abortion. Example 2: Woman had legal abortion bled heavily for weeks. Used drugs heavily for years to try and forget the procedure and the child she is unable to hold. Suffers from infertility. 3. Woman obtains legal abortion suffers from depression and anxiety. She recalls the child every year when her nephews birthdays are celebrated because the child would have been born at approximately the same time. This is not a debate about the legality of abortion. It is about providing appropriate standard of care to women. All regulations that apply to outpatient surgical centers need to apply to abortion centers.

CommentID: 68434