Dear Virginia's Board of Heath:

Please protect Virginian women’s access to reproductive health care and put a stop to politics at patient expense by voting AGAINST the Targeted Abortion Regulations for Providers (aptly named, "TRAP") law!  It's not good policy, and most of all, it's not good medicine.  Bigger closets and more parking spaces do NOT protect women's health, or keep them safer in any way.  Furthermore, abortion is one of the safest procedures in America, and there is no medical reason why it should be regulated more than any other procedure, other than pure misogyny.  Why are WOMEN's health providers being targeted for over-burdensome regulations, when other outpatient surgical clinics, such as oral surgery and comstetic surgery, are being left alone?  I guess the message to Virginian women is, if you want to make yourself "pretty," that's okay, but if you want to control your own body and/or health clinic, that's not allowed.  Is that really how you want Virginia to be portrayed to the rest of the country/world?

Virginia has one of the best health records in the country-- please do not hurt our good reputation by putting politics above the health of our good state's citizens.  More women will unnecessarily die if they do not have access to safe and legal abortion services.   I respectfully implore you to do the right thing: vote NO for Virginia's TRAP law.

Sincerely,

Arielle Karp