Virginia Board of Health votes to reverse TRAP measures aimed at women’s health centers

The Virginia Board of Health voted Thursday to roll back Republican-backed measures enacted in 2011 aimed at hamstringing women’s health centers.

The so-called TRAP measures – targeted regulation of abortion providers – had required the Board of Health to subject women’s health centers providing abortion services to the same regulations that hospitals are required to meet, down to hallway width and the number of available parking spaces, aiming to drive up costs and drive the health centers out of operation.

“Today’s vote is an enormous step forward in the fight to get extreme politics out of decisions that should be between women and their doctors,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement. “When I took office I promised to be a brick wall to protect women’s health care access and to roll back these onerous regulations that were designed explicitly to prevent Virginia women from accessing health care.

“This Commonwealth should be a leader in bringing people together and building a new Virginia economy – not in partisan crusades against women’s rights,” McAuliffe said.

Attorney General Mark Herring called the vote “a critical step in ensuring that Virginia women can make their own healthcare decisions and safely access the full range of services they need in the communities where they live.”

“This regulatory process is being driven by medical professionals working with solid, correct legal advice, and the Board’s decisions reflect a commitment to the law, patient safety, and the highest ethical standards. I appreciate the Board’s hard work and commitment to getting this right, and Gov. McAuliffe’s prudent decision to initiate the periodic review that led to these revised regulations,” Herring said.

Herring, earlier this year, had issued an official advisory opinion on the constitutionality of the TRAP measures enacted in 2011, concluding that the Board of Health, in enacting the measures, “did not have the authority to apply the design-and-construction section of the regulations to facilities built before the regulations took effect, nor does it have the authority to do so now.”

“Today is a great day for women and families across the Commonwealth,” said State Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico), Chair of the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus. “The politically motivated regulations enacted under the previous administration were medically unnecessary and inappropriate. Numerous medical professionals testified during the process that led to today’s vote, and they have agreed that existing women’s health centers should not be required to undergo extensive and costly expansions and renovations that could prevent Virginia women from receiving high quality, compassionate, and affordable care.”

“The Virginia Board of Health sent a loud and clear message today: we need to stop playing politics with women’s health,” said State Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Education and Health Committee. “Regulations of women’s health centers should be based on what is best for patients – not what is best for politicians and anti-women’s health extremists.”

– Story by Chris Graham