The Virginia House of Delegates, on the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, passed tightened regulations for abortion clinics that critics call a cloaked attempt to shut nearly all of them down.
The bill from Del. Matthew Lohr, R-Harrisonburg, would put the state’s 20 clinics and physician’s offices that offer abortions under the most stringent regulations for outpatient surgery centers.
While it passed by a handy 60-37 margin in the Republican-controlled House, the measure’s chances are slim in the Democrat-led Senate. Similar bills have died in the Senate in previous years, even before the new majority took power in November.
House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, who supported the bill, denied it was meant to shutter clinics. Putting the facilities under new standards “is a serious concern,” he said.
“While it would cost money, it isn’t going to close them down,” he said.
Del. David Englin, D-Alexandria, spoke on theHouse floor against the measure, and on Tuesday called it “a perennial attempt to close down abortion clinics by imposing unnecessary onerous restrictions.”
He said the bill is structured to close all but one of the state’s clinics by imposing equipment, licensing and architectural standards they can’t meet.
“It’s really unfortunate that House Republicans want to push this kind of divisive social legislation on us, especially on an anniversary like that,” he said.
Groups on both sides of the issue across the country rallied Tuesday on an anniversary that reinvigorated the debate over abortion, including a “March for Life” to the Supreme Court that drew thousands of protesters to the District.
The Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 22, 1973, that most restrictions on abortion are unconstitutional.
