As a professional in women's health, I am discouraged to see Virginia considering politically-motivated regulations on women's health centers that provide abortion care. The proposed regualtions have nothing to do with women's health, and everything to do with limiting access to abortion care in Virginia.

Abortion is a legal medical procedure in this country and in Virginia. No other medical procedure is subject to this kind of ridiculous scrutiny by state governments. Women and their doctors are in the best position to determine the appropriate outcome for a pregnancy, without state government intrusion.

I have worked with countless women in need of abortion care, and these regulations will disproportionately target low-income and/or rural women who do not have the resources to make multiple, back-to-back, useless trips to their gynecologist. The Virginia government is in no prosition to over-rule an expert panel of statewide Ob/gyns that recommended differentiating medical and surgical abortion in relation to the regulations as well as grandfathering in the existing clinics for the architectural requirements.

Please consider the absurd and burdensome nature of these regulations, and stop targeting abortion providers with unnecessary regulations. They are not about health care, they are about politics, and women are sacrificied in the battle.