Bob McDonnell Quietly Certifies Revised Abortion Clinic Regulations

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has quietly signed into law severe restrictions on abortion clinics.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has certified health regulations that impose strict hospital construction standards on Virginia abortion clinics -- triggering the next step in a multitiered approval process that could make the revised rules permanent by this summer.

 

Unlike the public relations ballyhoo that accompanies many executive actions, McDonnell, an anti-abortion Republican, certified the regulations and had them posted to the Virginia Town Hall website without a public announcement on the Friday between the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

 

The signoff comes more than three months after the rules were adopted in September by the state Board of Health at a contentious meeting during which abortion-rights advocates claimed board members were being intimidated into changing their decision in June to grandfather existing clinics from the building requirements.

 

Members of abortion-rights advocacy groups reacted strongly to the governor's approval in statements released Monday.

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