Governor Terry McAuliffe is doing what he said he would – support abortion on-demand. In his latest scheme, McAuliffe has asked four members of the Board of Health to resign early in advance of its next June 5 meeting (their terms were set to expire June 30) in order to, likely, circumvent or inhibit new regulations that truly do promote women’s health by ensuring abortion clinics meet minimum healthcare standards.
In perusing articles in the Virginian-Pilot, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Washington Post, precious little attention is given to why these regulations were put into effect in the first place (or, in the case of the Post, why they have been “imposed”). What you won’t read in these articles is this portion of a statement released yesterday by Victoria Cobb, President of The Family Foundation:
“The Board of health has adopted reasonable standards that include inspections and basic sanitary conditions. As a result of these standards, Virginia public health officials found over 100 health and safety violations [including] blood stained and unsterilized equipment, violations of parental consent laws, lack of adequate staff training and on and on. The abortion center health and safety standards are doing exactly what they were intended to do, force the industry to clean up its act and protect women, but it is more interested in spending money on elections than on women’s health.”
Cobb further questions, “Why is the abortion industry so afraid of having public health officials inspect their facilities if they are safe?”
“The health and safety violations that have been found because the standards are in place are proof enough that the industry cannot be trusted,” she said.
Abortion advocates donated more than $1 million to McAuliffe’s campaign.
“This was an overtly political move,” said House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford). “The General Assembly, by law, directed the Board of Health to establish regulations to protect the health and safety of women who seek an abortion. This seems like another attempt by the McAuliffe administration to undermine a law they don’t like, and that is very troubling.”
Given that these regulations are Virginia law, one would expect the attorney general to uphold them. Of course, with this administration, that doesn’t appear to be the case. It would appear that Attorney General Mark Herring is gearing up to find ways around the regulations:
“The Governor’s announcements today are extremely positive steps to make sure Virginia women have access to needed healthcare services. In addition to naming a slate of eminently qualified individuals to serve on the State Board of Health, his request for a review of the TRAP regulations is a prudent step. Throughout that review, my office and I will work with Board members to ensure they are well-informed about their powers and responsibilities in the regulatory process.”
The governor also announced that the state would be supporting Planned Parenthood in providing HIV screenings for men and women. That, on its face, seems like a good idea. However, every state dollar spent towards Planned Parenthood is a resource to:
1) Get them more involved and “trusted” within the community
2) Is one less dollar that has to be reallocated from their abortion budget to provide those other healthcare services
As an aside, why is it that whenever Democrats talk about these issues they always default to a conversation about the health of the woman? One would presume that the baby’s health is pretty important too, don’t you think?
J.R. Hoeft is the founder of BearingDrift.com.
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