Dear Virginia Board of Health,

I am quite concerned about the proposed "emergency" status regulations for women's health care centers.  The regulations proposed thus far do not actually benefit these health care centers or improve the quality and quantity of care provided.  The proposed regulations are merely burdensome requirements that unnecessarily group them in the same category as hospitals, which they are not, and are not meant to be. 

The regulations will instead limit access to care.  As a future health care provider, I assure you that access to care is a hot topic in the medical and dental field.  As the Board of Health, you should realize this as well, and it would behoove you to not fall prey to the political whims of the current party, but instead you should think for yourself and of the needs of the Commonwealth.  As the past has shown, restricting abortion access does not stop women from obtaining them; they will get them, but it will be at great jeopardy to themselves.  Abortions have an amazing safety record, but these non-evidence-based recommendations will not improve this.  

Women's health care centers do more than provide abortions: they are often primary care facilities for women, giving cancer screenings, gynecology exams, and general physical exams.  Reconsider your women's health care center regulations. 

Respectfully,

Helen Bono