The Virginia Board of Health voted 11-4 on Monday to approve regulatory changes that remove restrictions on Virginia’s women’s health clinics that could have forced the closure of many providers:
The vote “signals a victory and the end of a protracted regulatory fight over the future of women’s health in Virginia,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe said.
“I want to thank the Virginia Board of Health for working to repeal onerous regulations designed solely to reduce or outright remove access to essential reproductive health services for women across the Commonwealth,” McAuliffe said. “This vote demonstrates to the rest of the United States and the world that Virginia is a community where people can live, find employment, and start a family without politicians interfering with decisions that should be made by women and their doctors. When I ran for office I promised to be a brick wall for the women of Virginia against any attempts to infringe on their reproductive rights. I’m happy to say that my administration has and will continue to keep that promise.”
Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for governor in 2017, called the restrictions that had been in place “politically-motivated and medically-unnecessary.”
“The Supreme Court’s ruling in Whole Woman’s Health made it clear that such restrictions are unconstitutional,” Northam said. “Today’s vote moves Virginia in the right direction to help ensure every woman in the Commonwealth can have access to the quality health care she deserves.”
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