On behalf of Virginia's Catholic Bishops and their two Dioceses, I wish to reaffirm the Virginia Catholic Conference's support of the current emergency regulations on abortion centers, and to underscore the importance of adopting equally strong permanent regulations.

Abortion is not health care because it ends lives instead of healing them, but as long as the abortion industry is allowed to operate it must be required to adhere to well-defined health and safety standards.  The emergency regulations -- adopted by a 12-1 Board of Health vote -- accomplish this purpose are a solid foundation on which to establish permanent regulations.