As a physician who has had many years of experience in the institution and monitoring of quality assurance and improvement standards for all medical specialities, I strongly support the continuation of the application of the basic standards of medical care for all providers of medical services, including the TRAP standards. Unfortunately, the supporters of allowing a lesser standard of care for certain medical service providers (in particular those focused on abortion and similar services) would put political and economic considerations before the basic safety needs of patients by permitting such providers to carry out these activities in substandard and highly unsafe conditions. The basic quality of medical care must never be sacrificed for such considerations. To do so would be to travel down a slippery slope leading to the degradation of all medical safety standards for all providers. It is ironic that the supporters of legal abortion cite the need for safe procedures as opposed to those of illegal abortion providers yet try to prevent the institution of standards that would prevent the "legal" providers from essentially conducting business in the same manner as their illegal brethren.