After seeing the headlines relating to the 'dangerous' regulations being discussed for abortion clinics I started to read the details.  I also read some of the findings the Dept. of Health had at some of these clinics.

Good Lord!  I had minor outpatient surgery a couple years ago and I found myself wondering whether the clinic I had the surgery in had any regulatory safety requirements .  I had assumed that they were ready for an emergency, used sterile equipment and had staff that was well trained and knowledgeable.  I'm not sure, but if there were such regulatory standards in place but if not and I was aware of it I would not have gone ahead with the surgery.  My surgery was sports injury related.  I was a healthy athlete getting surgery two days after the injury occured, not a pregnant woman with all the potential medical complications that status carries.

In looking at several of the other comments on here I see many of them decrying the fact that any regulation will take us back to the days of 'back alley' abortions.  Huh?  I have always understood back alley abortions to be those conducted in unsanitary conditions with no regulation or safety net should anything go wrong.  The logic is stultifying.  On one hand the argument seems to be that the procedure of abortion is quite simple and completely safe...now...however in the 'back alley' days it was inherently dangerous and fraught with risk.  At the same time, a back alley abortion was also dangerous because it was in no way regulated and conducted outside of a regular medical facility.  It seems to me that the facts are that the abortion procedure itself carries as much risk as any other 'minor' invasive surgery.  Further, a lack of regulation invites an element of less than rigorous adherence to standards.  Finally, the argument for regulation is not a theoretical one.  People have suffered injury and death in Virginia and other states as a result of clinics not adhering to standards these regulations would require.  To complain that regulation of this industry will force some shutdowns is akin to complaining that having health standards for restaurants keeps someone from opening a restaurant.