I support the Board of Health's decision to amend the current regulations on Virginia's health centers and to ensure that Virginia's clinics remain open.

While all health professions should be regulated for safety, these restrictions are not medically necessary for patients' safety. Medically unnecessary mandates such as these regulations jeopardize Virginians' healthcare by making it more difficult for these clinics to exist and therefore restricting all healthcare for women and men, not just safe and legal abortion services, but services like pre-natal care or a simple pregnancy test.  

My own mother found out she was pregnant at one of these clinics right here in Virginia because her OBG-YN's practice told her they couldn't fit her in for at least another month.  She was too excited to wait to out if she was pregnant so she went to a Planned Parenthood and found out the wonderful news.  

There's a myth and a misperception that one only goes to these clinics for "bad" news or for women who have "misbehaved".  This is not the case.  I am proof of this.   

I am a Virginia woman and I support the Board of Health's decision to amend the medically-unnecessary restrictions that will close safe, trusted health care centers that provide abortions. In order for women to participate fully in our democracy, we must have access to services that enable us to plan our families, plan our futures, and pursue educational and employment opportunities.

Access to all forms of reproductive healthcare, including birth control and safe, legal and accessible abortion, is an economic and family issue as well as a health issue. Please ensure these health centers remain open.