Virginia Abortion Facility Regulation Bill Gets House Approval, Heads to Senate 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 7, 2006
Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) — A bill that would regulate abortion facilities is headed for the Virginia state Senate after getting a successful committee vote and House approval. The pro-life measure would subject abortion centers to the same safety requirements the state has for hospitals.
On Thursday, the House Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee backed the bill on a 14-7 vote and the full House of Delegates approved it Tuesday.
Del. Robert Marshall, a Republican, says the bill is needed to ensure that women are protected from unsafe abortion businesses. He said he doesn’t know how the Virginia government can claim the centers are safe if they never inspect them.
"The administration claims they’re safe," Marshall said of the clinics. "No one’s looked at these — but they’re safe? Do they use Ouija boards? Is it clairvoyance?
The measure has been approved in the House before and is expected to pass again. However pro-abortion legislators in the state Senate have held it up there perviously and has been buried in the Senate Education and Health Committee.
Abortion advocates gathered in the committee before the vote and were upset that legislators quickly approved the bill.
They also safe the changes mandated in the legislation would be costly to implement and could close down some abortion centers, as has happened in other states with similar laws.
That concern was lessened when the House adopted an amendment indicating that abortion centers don’t have to comply with the structural requirements in the bill as long as they can get women out of the building quickly on a gurney or stretcher to a medical facility in cases of emergency.
TAKE ACTION: Contact your state Senator and urge strong support for HB 189. You can find contact information at https://legis.state.va.us
