Terry McAuliffe holds women’s health roundtable in Hampton Roads

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe met with women from the business and health care community in Norfolk on Thursday to discuss ways to improve women’s access to quality health care in Hampton Roads and across the Commonwealth.

The event Thursday follows Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia’s endorsement of Terry McAuliffe for governor of Virginia on Wednesday.

McAuliffe stressed the importance of protecting the rights of women to make their own health care decisions, commenting, “we need to let women and medical professionals make these personal decisions, not politicians.”

“If we want Virginia to remain competitive we need to be providing women with access to quality affordable health care.  We can’t let politicians pushing divisive ideological agendas put up walls around Virginia,” McAuliffe added.

McAuliffe also heard from women in the community about the implications of the closing of Hillcrest Clinic in Norfolk, a women’s health center which was forced to shut down as a result of recent government regulations Attorney General Cuccinelli strong armed through the Virginia Board of Health. The medically unnecessary regulations were designed to force the closing of women’s health centers across Virginia.

Maryellen Remich, a retired nurse practitioner of 30 years and member of the Board of Directors of the Chesapeake Care Clinic stressed the importance of keeping women’s health facilities in Virginia open and accessible. “When women are healthy, families are healthy. And when families are healthy, generations are healthy. There is so much win-win on this,” she commented.