Will abortion clinic regulation become a political tool again?

Dec 2, 2014 | 0 comments

UPDATE: The Virginia Department of Health voted to make it easier for abortion facilities to stay in business even though they cannot meet basic safety requirements currently outlined in a 2012 law.

Virginia’s Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia and his health department director are now “reviewing” that state’s abortion clinic regulations – that are similar to Pennsylvania’s  and – like ours – were enacted in the wake of the Grand Jury report of Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” in West Philadelphia in 2011. Fought for by PA Family Council and a coalition of prolife groups, authored by State Rep. Matt Baker, and signed by outgoing Gov. Tom Corbett, PA’s regulations took effect in 2012.

Some pundits are saying it’s a blatant payback to the endorsement and financial backing he received from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest chain of abortion facilities. Abortion is big business and what we’ve learned here, through almost a year of countering Planned Parenthood’s opposition to higher medical standards, is that apparently meeting the same standards as every other surgical facility in Pennsylvania doesn’t fit their business model! They lost that legislative battle, of course, and as a result of noncompliance, five abortion clinics closed since our regulations went into effect in 2012.

The Gosnell Grand Jury found that abortion was really a political football — that former governors Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell (both abortion supporters) and their top officials sent word down through the health department to run a Hands Off policy when it came to the abortion business i.e. no inspections! And it was in that “hands off” political climate that someone like Gosnell was able to operate for more than 16 years.

Here in Pennsylvania, come January, all eyes will be on the new governor, Tom Wolf, and his Administration to see what changes he might push  for in Pennsylvania’s longstanding Abortion Control Act or with the health facilities regulations that the abortion industry hates so much. Will a new Gov. Wolf , also endorsed by Planned Parenthood in his campaign, try to reverse commonsense medical standards that truly protect women’s health and limit abortion-on-demand?

Join us in saying together, “Never Again!” to allowing another Kermit Gosnell to operate in our state! Women and babies deserve better than what they are promised by Planned Parenthood and the abortion business.

To read more:

Virginia state health commissioner seeks changes to abortion clinic regulations

3801 Lancaster video: Documentary inside look at the Gosnell clinic