We do not support the amendment of hospital regulations because all kinds of existing facilities should be allowed medically appropriate “grandfathering,” but we also do not support a selective application of the law that governs the physical plant requirements imposed on health care facilities in Virginia.

Under the law, women’s health care centers cannot be treated differently from other health care facilities. The final regulations for women’s health care centers now force current providers of first trimester abortion to meet stricter physical plant standards than any other health care facility in the state — more strict than hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and outpatient facilities.