I write out of concern that politics is overreaching in the matter of women's reproductive health.  I support the work and analysis of the Virginia Coalition to Protect Women's Health with regard to proposed regulations affecting patient access to safe, legal reproductive health care.

I quote two statements of the Virginia Coalition with which I particularly agree:

"Regulating abortion differently than other outpatient procedures that are safely provided in non-hospital medical facilities is playing politics with women's health and safety."

"Many abortion providers in Virginia offer an array of reproductive healthcare services to women as well as men.  Overregulation would limit access to a wide range of preventive reproductive healthcare services including life-saving cancer screenings, family planning and STI testing and treatment, as well as early abortion."

A woman deserves autonomy in decisions she makes about her own body.  State approved decisions limiting such autonomy, I believe, interfere with a woman's inherent right to choice and also raise, in my mind, concern for separation of church and state authority.

Most sincerely,

Sarah Munson