Governor approves new abortion clinic regulations

As of Sunday, abortion clinics will now be regulated as hospitals under emergency regulations approved by Gov. Bob McDonnell.
McDonnell, an abortion opponent, approved the rules on last week, as recommended by the Board of Health in September.
The emergency regulations were required under legislation adopted by the General Assembly this year, despite warnings that they will force most clinics providing abortions in Virginia to close.
"The governor believes these common-sense regulations will help ensure that this procedure takes place in facilities that are modern, safe, and well-regulated, in order to ensure the safety and well-being of all patients," McDonnell's staff said in a statement Dec. 29.
Abortion-rights advocates immediately assailed the governor's decision and vowed to take the battle to the next level as Virginia begins the process of drafting permanent regulations with fuller public input.
"It's an outrage that Gov. McDonnell has used public health regulations to play partisan politics in an attempt to limit — or eliminate — access to safe, legal abortion care in the Commonwealth," said the Virginia Coalition to Protect Women's Health in a statement Dec. 29.  
"The new regulations target health centers that provide a range of reproductive health care, including abortion, put women's health at risk, and trample women's rights," the coalition said.
Opponents also accused the office of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, another foe of abortion, of improperly intervening in the drafting of the regulations to require them to include building standards that are unrelated to patient safety or medical care.
"No state has ever passed, and no court has ever upheld, such burdensome regulations," the coalition said.
The battle began in February when the Virginia Senate amended an unrelated bill in order to require regulation of centers that perform first-trimester abortions.
The governor's office noted Dec. 29 that the legislation was adopted with bipartisan support in both houses and the draft regulations approved on a 12-1 vote by board members appointed both by McDonnell and former Gov. Tim Kaine.
Currently, abortion clinics are not regulated as hospitals by the state health department, and neither are medical offices where other surgical procedures, from orthopedic surgery to facelifts, are performed.
The coalition said it is "looking ahead to the permanent regulatory process, which will offer opportunities for expert and public input and comment."
Michael Martz writes for the Richmond Times-Disptach.