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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10/11/18  8:19 pm
Commenter: Mr. & Mrs. Thomas E. Carnell

Virginia's women deserve adequate protection
 

Abortion facilities in Virginia cannot be trusted to police themselves, as years of health and safety violations have repeatedly proved.  Now as the movie "Gosnell" is coming out is NOT the time to water down the sensible regulations previously put in place for the necessary protection of patients.

We believe that the following are reasonable AND necessary:

  1. Reinstate all of the health and safety measures the Board unlawfully watered down during its last amendment process.
  2. Require all OLC inspections to verify that Ultrasounds have been performed at least 24 hours prior to every abortion performed.
  3. Require annual inspections on abortion facilities instead of every 2 years.
  4. Remove the ability of the Commissioner to grant permanent variances.
  5. Reinstate the previous and accudrate definition of "first trimester" as being the first twelve weeks from conception, not "13 weeks and 6 days after last menstrual period."
  6. Reinstate the previous ability of the Department to deny, suspend, or revoke a license to operate an abortion facility if it is found to have violated "any provision of Article 1 (§ 32.1-123 et seq.) of Chapter 5 of Title 32.1."
  7. Reinstate the previous requirement that abortion facilities provide information to patients about the availability of post-abortion counseling.
  8. Reinstate theprevious  requirement that the abortion facility ensure that it has removed ALL of the fetal body parts from inside the female patient upon the performance of an abortion.
  9. Reinstate the previous requirement that abortion facilities report to OLC any incidents that were reported to the facility's malpractice insurance carrier.
  10. Reinstate the previously required reasonable design and construction standards such as those that required hallways and doorways wide enough to allow patients to be carried out on stretchers in cases of emergency.
CommentID: 67557