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Final two hearings before Virginia Board of Health certifies abortion clinic regulations

Mar 12, 2013

By Dave Andrusko

Dr. Karen Remley, former Virginia state health commissioner

Dr. Karen Remley, former Virginia state health commissioner

Hmmm. I’ve written two dozen stories, or more, about the battle in Virginia over the state’s abortion clinic regulations and somehow managed to miss that there was another public hearing last week! (There’s another one today as well.) Following today’s hearing, the Board of Health will conduct a final vote on the regulations April 12.

The regulations flesh out SB 924, which passed in 2011. The law mandates that abortion clinics be treated like outpatient surgical centers, if they provide five or more first-trimester abortions a month. The regulations address such issues as building standards, staff training, sanitation, and equipment standards.

Abortion proponents fiercely opposed the clinic regulations, but did not gain any traction until last June when the Board of Health suddenly decided to exempt existing abortion clinics from the law. This “grandfather” provision was widely lauded by the likes of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and critiqued by pro-lifers, including Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

The board’s 7-4 decision came even though Senior Assistant Attorney General Allyson Tysinger told the members that the board lacked authority to grandfather in existing clinics. She explained that the law passed by the General Assembly that required the regulations specifically mandated the tougher building standards.

Soon after the board made its decision, Cuccinelli refused to certify the regulations. In July, when the board reversed itself (on a 13-2 vote), pro-abortionists reiterated their claims that these requirements were so onerous, so burdensome, abortion clinics would be forced out of business. And for good measure insisted that Cuccinelli had “intimidated” the board, a charge board members denied to reporters.

The comment of then-State Health Commissioner Karen Remley is fascinating in retrospect. “All 20 of the state’s clinics have applied for licensing, and 12 have been granted licenses after submitting plans to correct deficiencies ranging from corridors or doorways being too narrow or having inadequate hand-wash and service sinks,” she told the Board of Health, according to the Washington Times. “None have indicated an intention to close.” That has not stopped abortion advocates from reiterating that abortion clinics will close.

Most of the coverage of the March 7 hearings in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (which loathes Cuccinelli) focused on Remley’s testimony. She resigned last October, “citing political interference in the performance of her duties with regard to the new regulations, developed by the Department of Health following legislation passed by the General Assembly in 2011,” according to Jim Nolan of the Times-Dispatch. This is presumably an allusion to Cuccinelli’s refusal to certify the regulations that would have exempted the 20 existing abortion clinics.

“In her remarks Thursday, Remley urged Board members, the new commissioner and other VDH professionals to use discretion by applying the guidelines in a way that balances safety and quality care without ‘over-reaching interpretations’ that exceed the law,” Nolan wrote. ““For all health care facilities including abortion facilities, rigidity in interpretation will potentially decrease access to safe and quality care,” Remley said.

The new regulations took effect on an emergency basis on January 1, 2012. Pro-lifers told the Board of Health last week that health inspections turned up more than 100 violations at the clinics. This, they argued, proved more regulation is needed, not less.