Given the fact that these regulations target women's health centers specifically and do not affect other, similar outpatient medical facilities, it is clear that the intent is not women's safety.  The real intent is to restrict women's access by creating regulations so onerous that existing facilities have to choose to either expend a large amount of money to remodel and pass an increase in the cost of services onto women who can ill afford it, reduce the number of first trimester abortions performed, or close altogether.

Women's health centers provide a wide range of preventive reproductive health care services, including life-saving cancer screenings, family planning, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.  The women who will be most impacted by a reduction in access are young, uninsured and low-income. Because only 14% of the counties in Virginia currently have abortion providers, these regulations may reduce it further.  This is discriminatory and dangerous.

These are medically inappropriate regulations.  They do not reflect sound science, do not protect patient interests, and should be amended.