The proposed regulations are overly burdensome and unnecessary. They equate a doctors office to an ambulatory health care facility such as a hospital and are more burdensome than any other Doctors office must adhere to.  Many physicians have spoken out that these new regulations have no proven medical benefit and will only serve to reduce or eliminate patient access to health care. Throughout the past year it has come to my attention that a new means of preventing access to an abortion has been introduced by anti-choice activists in the guise of "Improving the Safety" of womens health centers.

Women in Virginia need more access to affordable, high quality health care, not less.  The regulations will increase the financial burden on patients and decrease patients' health care options thereby marginalizing young, low-income, and uninsured women. Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures. Instead of improving safety, these regulations will limit access to a wide range of preventive reproductive health care services provided by women's health clinics, including life-saving cancer screenings, family planning, and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment. These rules only serve to make it more difficult to acquire low cost cancer screenings or medical treatment for sexually related diseases, which if left untreated promply will cost further in time, money, and health.