The Virginia Family Foundation is funding the legal costs of one of two plaintiffs who allege that the Board of Health's roll-back of restrictive 2012 abortion clinic regulations violated procedure and should be thrown out. The rules, part of a legislative strategy called TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers), were at one point expected to shut down all or most of Virginia's abortion clinics, by imposing hospital building standards on all current and future clinics.
The plaintiffs, Henrico-based Itzel A. Melendez and Board of Health member Megan C. Getter, argue that the regulations pertain to health and safety standards. They do not, unless details like the presence of awnings or the number of linen closets pertain to the health or safety of patients seeking reproductive health services. These rules did not, could not, and were never intended to protect women and others seeking abortions— they were solely intended to restrict access to abortions by closing down the clinics that working-class people depend on for their reproductive healthcare.
It was our pressure that led McAuliffe to direct the Board of Health to begin proceedings to repeal the rules, and if this lawsuit brings them back, we'll do it again. Keep an eye out.
Read the Richmond Times-Dispatch piece here.
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