I urge the Board of Health to amend the targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. These targeted regulations, which exclusively require abortion providers’ offices to comply with hospital and ambulatory surgical center regulations, provide no health benefit to women and in fact, may harm women’s health. No other type of medical office/clinic including outpatient offices that perform colonoscopies, vasectomies, dental surgery, birthing services (including home birthing) and a broad array of other medical procedures that the evidence shows are more dangerous -  is required to comply with these ridiculous and medically unnecessary laws!  They are sham laws designed and implemented exclusively to create an undue burden on women seeking safe, legal access to abortion services. 

Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed in the United States today. First-trimester abortion, in particular, is a safe, non-surgical, outpatient procedure that is routinely and safely practiced in doctor’s offices—not hospitals—across Virginia and the entire country. This is why the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical experts have long opposed TRAP laws.

As everyone now knows, the United States Supreme Court just ruled that TRAP restrictions in Texas, similar to those in Virginia, are unconstitutional because they place an undue burden on a woman’s ability to access an abortion (Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, 579 U.S.  (2016).) I respectfully ask the Board of Health to consider the Supreme Court’s decision and therefore amend the regulations of Virginia abortion providers to likewise take into account actual medical evidence that promotes women’s health and safety and to remove all undue burden to access the constitutional right to abortion.  The Supreme Court determined there was more than sufficient evidence to support the federal district court’s conclusion that “‘many of the building standards mandated by the act and its implementing rules have such a tangential relationship to patient safety in the context of abortion as to be nearly arbitrary.’” Id. at (quoting Whole Woman’s Health v. Lakey, 46 F. Supp. 3d 673, 684 (2014)). The Supreme Court also determined the record supports the district court’s conclusion that hospital and ambulatory surgical center requirements “place [] a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking abortion.”   The Supreme Court has clearly ruled that  Texas—and all other states—including Virginia – may not require abortion providers to comply with  these sham and arbitrary TRAP regulations that in no way promote patient health and safety.  Women in Virginia – like women in all states – are constitutionally entitled access to safe, legal abortion. 

Medical regulations should be based on the informed advice of medical experts who are on the frontlines of patient care every day.   Amendments to the regulations for the licensure of abortion facilities are necessary to begin to reverse the sham restrictions instituted in 2012 that continue to limit Virginia citizens’ access to safe, legal healthcare.  Please amend the requirements to reflect the extraordinarily high safety record of abortion; fully protect the health, safety, and confidentiality of patients; and to provide complete access to safe high-quality, reputable reproductive health care. Thank you for the opportunity to comment.