On Monday, June 27, the Supreme Court of the United States made the right decision to find the Texas TRAP laws unconstitutional. We have these laws in Virginia too. TRAP laws -- Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers -- passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2011 under the administration of former Governor Bob McDonnell, have nothing to do with improving women’s health.

TRAP laws have everything to do with the politics of restricting a woman’s right to choose.

There has been no effort to impose the same requirements on other patient care providers such as podiatrists, oral surgeons or even outpatient plastic surgery facilities.

In Virginia and elsewhere - the TRAP laws include expensive and burdensome architectural regulatory requirements, including increasing hallway width and increasing ceiling heights in boiler rooms. The required modifications can exceed $1 million and do not improve patient safety at all. This is a cost out of reach for most clinics. The United States Supreme Court agrees.

• Let’s be clear: TRAP laws were created and enforced with one goal — to close clinics and restrict access to critical women’s health care. Many of my colleagues in the Virginia General Assembly don’t believe that women should be able to make decisions for themselves. And they have been successful.
  

Virginia’s General Assembly mandated an unnecessary ultrasound requirement as well as a restrictive 24-hour waiting period.

• Since June 2013, when the TRAP law took effect - these costly requirements have caused clinics to close. In fact, according to the 2016 Annual report produced by NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, 92 percent of Virginia counties have no abortion providers. The long distances required to travel across the state, combined with the 24-hour waiting period often necessitates an overnight stay. This, like in Texas, leaves most Virginians with no reasonable access.

• These TRAP regulations are one step further in demeaning women and giving politicians the power to strip women, mainly rural and low-income women, of their constitutional right to safe and legal abortion.

• Our current Governor, Terry McAuliffe, has worked with the Virginia Board of Health to make improvements in the regulatory process. Recently, the Board of Health voted to review TRAP regulations and received overwhelming public support to repeal them. Monday’s Supreme Court decision, further justifies the repeal of these burdensome and medically unnecessary regulations.

• I understand that the decision to have an abortion is a difficult one. But politicians should not have a role in this personal private situation. As the mother of two daughters, I will always advocate for their right to decide for themselves, for Virginians and for all Americans because women deserve access to the best quality health care without having to fight barriers, and regardless of what their zip code may be.

Now in Virginia, it’s up to us, the majority of the population, to use the Supreme Court’s clear ruling to stand up to these anti-women, anti-health regulations. I invite you to use your voice with me to protect our sisters, our daughters in Virginia, in Texas, in my home state of Alabama, and all across the US, so that they can make their own decisions for themselves.