To whom it may concern:

As a health care professional I strongly object to the proposed regulations for women's health centers in Virginia. Existing women’s health centers have been offering safe care for many years, so there is no need to require them to entirely rebuild their facilities under new construction requirements. Forcing them to do so could reduce access to care. IN many cases these clinics provide needed primary care, and reducing their ability to do only worsen the shortage of qualified primary care providers in Virignia.

Even where abotion is provided, these regulations are unnecessarily burdensome and indeed inappropriate. Abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures sought by women in the United States and is an essential part of the comprehensive range of women’s reproductive health care.  Furthermore, abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed in the United States and has an excellent safety record in Virginia.

Finally, it should be noted that these regulations violate patient confidentiality by allowing Department of Health employees  to review a wide variety of records, with no protections for patient confidentiality, or provider and patient safety. This is a clear violation of one of the founding principles of medical ethics, and puts health care professionals as well as patients in a dangerous situation. The current temporary regulations are unnecessarily burdensome and medically inappropriate. Regulations for womens health centers should be based on evidence-based medical practices that advance the public health, not on political or religious views.

Sincerely,

Candace Burton, PhD, RN