To the Dept of Health:

Your readers will remember that the Virginia Board of Health (VBOH) voted to adopt, and the Governor approved, regulations regarding the design and construction of women's healthcare centers that also perform abortions. In the political saga that ensued during the regulatory process, Attorney General Cuccinelli threatened the VBOH members that his office may not defend them in court challenges if they did not adopt the regulations.  Interestingly, the BOH initially voted to grandfather existing facilities, but they then changed their votes after the specious Cuccinelli threat. The regulations, now final, require women’s health care centers to conform to the same standards used for new construction of hospitals.   

Imposing the massive costs of compliance with this unnecessary regulation of women’s health care centers, regardless of whether it will actually provide any benefit for patient safety and well-being, underscores the extent to which these regulations are about politics and not health.  Their intent is to force women’s health centers to close their doors.  

The existing regulations for hospitals state: “All construction of new buildings and additions, alterations or repairs to existing buildings for occupancy as a "free-standing" outpatient hospital shall conform to state and local codes, zoning and building ordinances, and the Statewide Uniform Building Code. In addition, hospitals shall be designed and constructed according to Part 1 and sections 3.1-1 through 3.1-8 and 3.7 of Part 3 of the 2010 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities of the Facilities Guidelines Institute (formerly of the American Institute of Architects). The requirements of the Uniform Statewide Building Code and local zoning and building ordinances shall take precedence.” Thus, the regulations for hospitals grandfathered in buildings that existed at the time these regulations were written (in 1995 and amended many times since then, the latest amendments in 2011), and also ensures that any newly constructed buildings must meet only the statewide building code, not the Guidelines.

Requiring existing abortion care facilities to comply with 2010 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities is inconsistent with the regulation of every other type of health care facility in Virginia. These include hospital and nursing homes. In order to justify imposing this onerous requirement, the Department of Health incorrectly asserts that “the regulatory provisions pertaining to facility design [and] construction are written based on Virginia § 32.1-127.001.” However, this statute does not mandate that existing facilities meet the Guidelines standards, and, clearly, no other type of facility in the state has been forced to rebuild its existing building as a result of Virginia Code § 32.1-127.001. Every single time the Board has adopted regulations implementing this code section, it has applied the regulations only to new construction and renovations of existing buildings. No other health care facility has been forced to rebuild its existing structure to comply with these Guidelines, even though Virginia Code § 32.1-127.001 applies to hospitals, nursing homes, hospice centers, and outpatient surgical facilities.

So, in the final analysis of these regulations and codes, it is obvious that the Department of Health, the Governor, and the Attorney General all were trying to close down women's healthcare centers that perform abortions.  They never required existing hospitals, nursing homes, or surgicenters to conform to the regulations concerning physical plants now applied to women’s health centers.  Our Governor and Attorney General think that a double standard is okay when it comes to women's health. Women and the Commonwealth deserve better.