I am pleased that the Virginia Board of Health has decided to amend unnecessary restrictions on the operations of women's healthcare centers.  The purpose of these resrictions would seem to be to deny women access to medically-safe abortions, since no serious case can be made for them on medical grounds.  At a time when the world is being grimly reminded about the consequences of efforts to impose extreme versions of religious beliefs on everyone, we should reject similar attempts to impose particular beliefs on all Virginians.  While I can respect principled opposition to abortion on religious grounds, I cannot respect attempts to impose such beliefs on everyone.  Many of us have different visions of Christianity, or of other religious traditions.  Abortion may always be in some sense a tragedy, as of my now-departed priests argued after careful study of the matter, but like him I support a women's right to choose.