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Vol. 75/No. 11      March 21, 2011

 
Virginia bill restricts
women’s abortion rights
 
BY SUSAN LAMONT  
WASHINGTON—Virginia’s General Assembly passed a bill February 24 placing restrictive regulations on abortion clinics in the state that in effect will close some of the state’s 21 clinics. At the Walk for Choice held in downtown Washington, D.C., two days later, some 300 supporters of abortion rights protested this and other attacks on legal abortion taking place around the country..

Gov. Robert McDonnell has said he will sign the bill. Upon enactment July 1, the Virginia Board of Health will set new guidelines for clinics that perform at least five first-trimester abortions a month. The rules would be similar to those enforced in hospitals, forcing clinics to bear prohibitive costs.

More than 26,000 abortions were performed in Virginia in 2009, most in clinics that are regulated much like doctors’ offices where colonoscopies and other medical procedures are performed.

In states where government legislation imposed similar regulations, the number of clinics dropped dramatically. In Texas, for example, the number of clinics declined from 20 to four; in South Carolina they fell from 14 to three.

“Let’s be clear, this is not about health and safety,” Rosemary Codding, director of the Falls Church Healthcare Center, told the Washington Post February 25. “This is about targeting abortion providers and making it more difficult if not impossible to provide women affordable access to abortion.”

Other state legislatures, including Delaware and Georgia, are considering similar measures.

Glova Scott contributed to this article.  
 
 
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