This is what you get when you elect a state governor who sought the female vote and ultimately
won 67 percent of single female voters. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe made some
critical changes at the state board of health, which has now
begun a process that could ultimately reverse course on the closure of 18 abortion clinics.
From ThinkProgress:
The Virginia Board of Health has voted to amend the state’s strict abortion clinic requirements, an important step in a complex process that could eventually lead to the repeal of the policy and the assurance that Virginia’s 18 clinics can remain open. … When Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) was elected last year, he swiftly replaced some of the health board members and ordered a review of the anti-choice regulations.
The Virginia rules were part of a larger national trend pushed by anti-choice activists who have sought to regulate abortion clinics right out of business. Known as "TRAP" laws for Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, these measures have rapidly spread across the country, reports Erica Hellerstein.
In the past decade, the number of states with TRAP restrictions has more than doubled: 27 states now have some type of TRAP law (up from 11 in 2000), and nearly 60 percent of women in the country of reproductive age now live in states with TRAP laws.
But in addition to the Virginia development, pro-choice advocates have scored some other recent successes with countering the laws. A federal judge ruled part of one law in Indiana unconstitutional; the Ohio Department of Health granted a Cincinatti-based Planned Parenthood an exception to a statewide law; and the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals put the final kibosh on a Mississippi TRAP law.