Dear Decisionmakers,

I realize that the issue of abortion is a controversial one, with many well-intended people having very different opinions about it. Regardless, I think that women need to have access to medical facilities that are safe and that will allow them to make decisions about their own health and well-being.

Any reasonable person knows that the TRAP regualtions have been proposed as means to make it more difficult for women to get an abortion in Virginia. This sort of indirect legislation is not appropriate, regardless of how justified individuals think the end result may be.

Virginia has a proud history of supporting individual liberty and freedom, and I find this sort of back door attempt to restrict women's freedom to be inconsistent with the traditions of the Commonwealth.

Listed below are some specific points some have suggested are relevant, I believe that they are.

The regulations threaten the continued availability of safe, legal first-trimester abortion and preventive reproductive health care in multiple locations throughout the state.

The regulations will increase the financial hurdles to health care for patients, with no proven medical benefit to patients. Women need more access to affordable, high quality health care, not less.

If regulations placed on women's health centers are based upon evidence-based medical practices that advance the public health, then women in the Commonwealth will be able to maintain access to vital health care from trusted medical providers.

Medically inappropriate and unnecessarily burdensome regulations would restrict access to essential health care services for the women of Virginia and further marginalize young, low-income, uninsured and minority women by decreasing their health care options.

The high standard of care provided by women's health centers is proven by their impressive safety record. Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures. Overregulation 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.

It is my hope that the regulations will be amended to be based purely on medicine and science and should not impede women's access to essential health care.

Thank you for considering this statement.

John B. Nezlek

Gloucester, VA 23061