On behalf of the Board of Directors’ of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Foundation and NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, I ask the Virginia Board of Health to please reconsider several provisions of the temporary regulations for abortion clinics during the permanent regulatory process.

On September 15, 2011, the Virginia Board of Health voted to accept temporary regulations for first trimester abortion providers written by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). Unfortunately, these regulations are inappropriate for first-trimester abortion which has a proven safety record. Furthermore, the temporary regulations are politically driven, evidenced by FOIA documents received by the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood in November. VDH gathered a group of medical experts in obstetrics and genecology from around the state to help draft the temporary regulations. The documents show that the initial regulations drafted by the expert panel were severely altered by the Attorney General’s office to make the regulations highly inappropriate for first-trimester abortion services.

In light of the fact that VDH ignored the advice of its own medical experts, and given that the temporary regulations are unnecessary, burdensome, and unrelated to the provision of abortion care, we ask the Board to please reconsider the following provisions during the permanent regulatory process:

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia urges the Board of Health to consider grandfathering in the existing clinics as originally recommended by the medical expert panel that helped write the temporary regulations. Many of these medical practices have been safely operating for two to three decades. Women depend on these doctors’ offices for low-cost and accessible healthcare. These regulations put that care in jeopardy by forcing these facilities to meet unnecessary architectural requirements that have nothing to do with patient care, driving up healthcare costs or eliminating a medical practice that in many cases already marginalized women depend on.

2.      Differentiate Between Medical and Surgical Abortion

The medical expert committee differentiated between medical and surgical abortion. Medical abortion is done prior to nine weeks gestation, beginning in a doctor’s office and ending in the privacy of the patient’s home where a miscarriage takes place. No surgery is required and that is why many women choose this safe and private option.

The medical expert panel distinguished between medication abortion and surgical abortion in its initial draft regulations. The Attorney General changed that distinction and mandated that the two be treated the same. This is unnecessary since abortion is outlined in the code of Virginia as a surgical procedure. Women should not be denied this option and doctors should not have to meet hospital building standards to simply administer a pill. We ask that the Board reconsider this provision for the permanent regulations and give doctors and patients the flexibility to choose medication abortion for the early stages of pregnancy.

3.      Protect patients’ identities and Medical Staff Safety

We have serious concerns that the temporary regulations lack privacy protections for patients. When clinic inspections occur, every precaution should be made by VDH inspectors to protect patients who are in the facility during the inspection as well as patient records. 

For women seeking abortion, patient confidentiality is of utmost importance. Every precaution to protect a women’s identity must be taken whether she is in the facility or not. All identifiable records must be redacted before inspectors can view them and no records should leave the premises. Any interviews with onsite patients must only be done with a patient’s written and verbal permission.

The current regulations leave medical staff at risk. The regulations must include provisions that require inspectors to keep security and other building plans confidential. Abortion providers and their staff are at particular risk of violence and every precaution must be made to keep sensitive information confidential.     

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia would like to further point out that the temporary regulations unfairly target young, rural, low-income, and minority women who are already at risk of not having access to healthcare. Women’s healthcare centers provide essential reproductive health care services such as life-saving cancer screenings, family planning, STI testing and treatment, and safe, legal abortion care. This may be the only medical care these women receive due to a lack of health insurance. Reducing this access puts women and families at risk.

At a time when women need more access to affordable, high quality health care, not less, we were disappointed to see politics dictate the initial regulatory process. We hope that the permanent regulatory process will allow, at a minimum, for the changes outlined above to occur. Women’s health and access to healthcare should be paramount during this discussion and process.

We also ask that you continue hosting public hearings throughout the permanent regulatory process so Virginians’ concerns are fully considered.

Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.

Most sincerely,

Tarina Keene, MPA

Executive Director

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia