Failing to pass legislation to recriminalize abortion, Virginia’s Republican leadership is using regulations to force women’s health clinics out of business. The Republican regulations specify the width of hallways, the height of ceilings, and the size of awnings over entrances, among other things, to make even tiny clinics meet the standards of hospitals.
Virginia, with a population of about 8 million, has 22 clinics that perform abortions. Many health centers say most of their services are for primary and preventive care, such as cancer screenings, prenatal care and HIV/AIDS tests. About 25,000 abortions were performed in Virginia last year, including those at hospitals and doctor’s offices, according to the Health Department.
It’d be understandable for people — either so-called “pro-choice” and so-called “pro-life” — to wonder why politicians fanatically opposed to government regulation would resort to it aggressively to impose an agenda that fails in legislative and judicial venues.