Sen. Herring Submits Testimony on Women’s Health Care Clinic Regulations

From the Mark Herring for AG campaign: 

Leesburg – Democratic candidate for Attorney General State Senator Mark Herring (Loudoun & Fairfax) submitted the following testimony today to the state Board of Health regarding Targeting Regulations on Abortion Providers (TRAP):

“In 2011, Republicans in Richmond pushed through legislation to effectively shut down women's health care providers across the Commonwealth. The legislation makes health care for women more expensive and less accessible through targeted, overly burdensome regulations that provide unnecessary obstacles to any woman seeking access to health care services. These health care centers provide vital services – in many cases they are the only source of critical care for women – offering affordable annual checkups, cancer screenings, and birth control.

“Nearly one in three women struggle to afford reproductive health care. Many are uninsured or underinsured and count on low-cost women’s healthcare centers for their primary health care needs.  If any one of the women’s health centers closes, thousands of Virginia women will lose access to critical health care.

“When Republicans pushed through this legislation two years ago, there was no evidence justifying these new regulations on health grounds, but the legislature forced them on Virginia women anyway. Today, there still isn’t any evidence. The new regulations are wrong and must be fixed to ensure that thousands of Virginia women do not lose access to essential medical care.”