Friday 9/14: Moving Virginia backward

Earlier today ProgressVA stated, "ProgressVA today strongly condemned the decision by the Virginia Board of Health to prioritize politics over evidence-based medicine and bow to bullying from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli by removing the 'grandfather clause' from proposed clinic regulations. Even though hundreds of citizens told the Board they wished to attend the meeting and the ACLU of Virginia requested the Board accommodate all those who wished to submit public comment and witness the debate, the Board limited attendance in the meeting to 100 and cut public comment to only 1 hour."

Progressive Point: Politicians have no business interfering with women's private medical decisions and inserting their political agendas into the doctor-patient relationship. Today, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli successfully bullied the Board of Health into ignoring evidence-based medicine in favor of right-wing ideology.

After the Board of Health made the decision to protect women's health, Cuccinelli hijacked the process and threatened the board with litigation if they didn't revise regulations to reflect his personal agenda. Shutting down women's access to comprehensive reproductive care and safe and legal abortion in order to cater to a politician who has proven time and again that he will twist the law to suit his own goals doesn't keep women safe and healthy. To politicians like Cuccinelli, women's health isn't nearly as important and political points.

Get the Facts:

• Ken Cuccinelli refused to certify regulations adopted by the Virginia Board of Health because they grandfathered in existing clinics from regulations intended to force all women's health clinics to close. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 17, 2012)


• The recent legislation, signed by Gov. McDonnell, singles out women's health centers that provide abortions and forces them to comply with hospital standards. No other outpatient clinic in Virginia, including those performing oral and cosmetic surgery, are forced to adhere to these standards. The underlying purpose is to force clinic closure through requiring unaffordable construction. (Washington Post, July 27, 2012)


• In addition to family planning services, Virginia's women's health clinics provide life-saving cancer screenings and health care services like STD screenings. (ProgressVA, June 14, 2012)

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