Dear Virginia Board of Health,

Please do not approve of the currently proposed permanent regulations for women's health clinics in Virginia. These regulations are politically motivated and were put in place to target clinics offering abortion services. Although abortion is a controversial issue, women still have the right to receive one, and they should have the opportunity to do so in a safe, clean environment.

Additionally, abortions are only a small percentage of the services that these clinics provide. Low-income patients and students rely heavily on these clinics for pre-natal care, STI-screenings, treatments for STI's, cervical cancer screenings, and access to contraceptives. The proposed regulations would require unnecessary structural and architectural changes that have no medical benefit for the services currently provided by these clinics.

If you approve any permanent regulations, please only consider those that are medically and scientifically motivated. Enforcing these bogus regulations will only hinder clinics that provide multiple vital health services to women across the state, and will most likely cause the centers to shut down or not be constructed at all. If you have any interest in the well-being of women in our state, I hope you will reject the current regulations.

Thank you,

Katharine McLaughlin