The current regulations of Virginia women’s health centers are about politics, not medicine. Three years ago, the Virginia Department of Health convened a panel of six top medical experts from across the state to initially draft the regulations. Those experts recommended evidence-based regulations that protected women's health, but the Dept. of Health ignored their own doctors' recommendations and drafted regulations based in politics, not medicine.

During the process of final decision-making by the Virginia Board of Health in 2012, then Attorney General Cuccinelli pressured the Board behind the scenes, bullying them into approving restrictions designed to shut down health centers. Now, abortion providers must meet building requirements designed for new hospitals - requirements that no other health care facility in Virginia must meet - despite the fact that first-trimester abortion is a common and extremely safe outpatient procedure.

I urge the Commissioner and Board of Health to rescind these politicized restrictions and begin drafting new regulations that rely on evidence-based medicine.