Hundreds show for Board of Health hearing

Jessica Dahlberg
Staff Writer

Hundreds of protesters appeared at a meeting of the Virginia Board of Health on Sept. 14 to be heard during a hearing to determine whether a law that requires strict building regulations should apply to abortion clinics.

The board voted overwhelmingly to adopt the regulations requiring Virginia’s 20 abortion clinics to adhere to the same new construction and operational requirements as hospitals.

In June, the board amended building regulations to prevent existing clinics from having to comply with the new requirements. When the regulations were sent to the state Attorney’s General office for approval, the office told the board they did not have the authority to enact the grandfather provision because it did not comply with a law passed by the General Assembly in 2011.

The clinics must abide by the new rules to maintain licensure to perform abortions. After being licensed by the Health Department, the clinics have two years to bring facilities up to code, including widening hallways and creating additional parking areas. For many of Virginia’s 20 clinics, this will entail expensive renovations or closure.

Erin Willis, a VCU english and gender studies major, said he believes the new regulations are discriminatory toward the clinics.

“Because (abortion clinics) don’t get the kind of funding hospitals get, it’s unfair to hold them to the same standards,” he said.

Willis was one of hundreds of people who arrived hours before the meeting to line up outside the Perimeter Center waiting to gain admittance inside to see the proceedings that started at nine. The line for entry wound around the building and into the parking lot. It was estimated that over 400 people were in attendance.

Out of the hundreds of advocates, only 180 were allowed inside during the hearing but protests continued in the parking lot. Those who were not permitted entry continued to protest, holding up signs while box trucks with images of unborn fetuses on their sides circled the parking lot.

Victoria Powell, a medical student at VCU, held up a sign asking people to look at the evidence instead of emotions.

“Working to make abortion something women wouldn’t choose to do is a valid goal,” Powell said. “But it needs to be accomplished at the level of increasing services to pregnant women … it doesn’t come at the level of restricting access to the procedure.”

However, anti-abortion advocates saw the regulations as an improvement and something that would help women in the future.

“We don’t condemn the people who have (abortions) … but if you are going to do this, do it in a clean and safe environment,” said Don Blake, Chairman of Virginia Christian Alliance, a religious social advocacy group.

The regulations will be submitted to the Attorney’s General office for a review process specified by the Administrative Process Act, a law that dictates how agencies establish or change regulations. Once they are approved, they will be published for a 60-day public comment period. When the public comment period is over, the Virginia Department of Health will review the comments and the regulations will be brought back to the board for consideration as final regulations.