I am the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Shenandoah Valley, located in Stephens City, and I am writing on my own behalf to oppose the proposed regulations for abortion providers. Clearly, they intended only to place an undue burden on a woman's constitutionally protected decision to terminante a pregnancy.

I have faith in God and I have faith in women to discern God's will for them and to determine for themselves how they ought to respond to an unplanned pregancy. I am not an outlier in my tradition. There are millions of women and men who are called by their faith to support a woman's decision-making regarding her own body and the decision of a woman or of a couple when to bring a child into this world.  

The proposed regulations do nothing to make abortions any safer. Abortions remain one of the safest procedures in medicine--safer, in fact, than childbirth.  I fear, though, I'm not telling you anything you don't know. It's this disregard of known medical science to advance a particular religious belief about the nature of life that scares me the most. That is why I believe it' important to speak out as a person of faith.  The proposed regulations aren't advancing medicine. They are taking sides in a religious debate.  Therefore, I respectfully urge to withdraw the proposed regulations.

Rev. Paul Britner