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 Regulations for Licensure of Abortion Facilities
Stage Emergency/NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 2/15/2012
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1/25/12  2:06 pm
Commenter: Sarah Lambert

Women's Health NOW
 

The state's "right" to monitor and choose what is "best" for women (and society) through establishing laws that limit women's access to healthcare is an abomination to the human condition.  There are decrees that establish the illegitimacy of discrimination against women; however, the state legislature acts upon the notion that it remains legitimate to shackle and chain bodies (particularly women's bodies) with the values that a small group of legislatures think upholds the subjective values of our state and country.

The values, which feed these regulatory actions against women, do not serve as a universal truth.  Women need access, particularly women of lower socioeconomic status and women lacking a traditional higher education.  By limiting healthcare to women (ie: Planned Parenthood clinics), the state is stripping access to physical examinations, pharmaceuticals, and therapy.  In essence, the women that do not have a political voice or the resources to establish a "voice" are losing one of the only health resources aimed specifically towards addressing their female bodies.

The medicalization of femaled bodies and the policing of those bodies - already marginalized - is not only unconstitutional, but unethical.

CommentID: 21558