DeMay is a board-certified maternal-fetal medicine physician who practices in the Richmond area.

Women’s health is on the line at this week’s Virginia Board of Health meeting. On Thursday, the Board has the opportunity to put evidence-based medicine before politics and amend the current restrictions imposed on Virginia’s abortion facilities.

As a board-certified Maternal Fetal Medicine physician, my job is to use an evidence-based approach to provide my patients with the best possible obstetrical care. Similarly, the Board of Health is tasked to use an evidence-based approach to protect the health of Virginians.

The Mission Statement of the Virginia Board of Health is as follows: “The State Board of Health exists to provide leadership in planning and policy development for the Commonwealth and the Virginia Department of Health to implement a coordinated, prevention-oriented program that promotes and protects the health of all Virginians. In addition, the Board serves as the primary advocate and representative of the citizens of the Commonwealth in achieving optimal health.”

In order to achieve that mission, at their meeting this week the Board must ensure that regulations of abortion facilities in Virginia are medically appropriate.

Women’s health and safety is everyone’s top priority, but the current regulations are not about that.

First trimester surgical abortion is already an extremely safe procedure, with serious complications occurring in approximately 0.25 percent of procedures.

In 2012, Virginia passed Targeted Restrictions of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which required existing outpatient abortion facilities to meet building standards for new hospitals. Even existing hospital facilities are not held to these standards.

The reasoning for the passage of these laws was purported to be the protection of women’s health, however these laws do not apply to any other outpatient facilities, such as those performing higher risk outpatient procedures like colonoscopy and oral surgery.

If these laws were really designed to protect health, if they were evidence-based, they would apply to other outpatient facilities, and they would certainly apply to existing hospitals. The new regulations were instead politically motivated, and were designed to make it too expensive for abortion clinics to stay open.

Many medical associations have spoken out against TRAP Laws.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) spoke out against these laws in their November 2014 Committee Opinion, writing “Facility and staffing requirements enacted in some states, under the guise of promoting patient safety, single out abortion from other outpatient procedures and impose medically unnecessary requirements designed to reduce access to abortion.”

ACOG formally opposes these medically unnecessary laws, “because they improperly regulate medical care and do not improve patient safety or quality of care.”

On Thursday, the Virginia Board of Health will consider amending the current TRAP laws to make them medically appropriate.

Although I strongly support the complete repeal of these laws, the proposed amendments to the current laws are an excellent first step.

The proposed amendments would ensure that women’s health centers are not required to comply with rules designed for inpatient hospitals, which is a medically unnecessary requirement.

They would eliminate the current requirement that abortion facilities have a transfer agreement with hospitals, which are unnecessary.

These transfer agreements are often denied for political or ideological rather than medical reasons, and federal laws (the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, passed in 1986) already prevent hospitals from refusing any patients emergency care.

The amendments would revise building standards for new and existing abortion facilities. Current regulations require that existing abortion facilities come into compliance with building standards for new hospital facilities.

Outpatient facilities do not need to meet standards meant for hospitals, and all other medical facilities in the state are “grandfathered” regarding these regulations. Abortion providers and only abortion providers are exempted from these grandfather clauses.

The purpose of the Virginia Board of Health is to protect the health of all Virginia citizens. Decisions made by the Board should be based on medical evidence, not politics, religious beliefs, or ideology.

Abortion is a safe and Constitutionally-protected legal procedure, and any restrictions on abortion providers should be based on medical evidence.

The evidence does not support TRAP laws. I urge the Virginia Board of Health to follow the evidence and pass amendments to the current laws that reflect medicine not politics.

I also urge the Virginia legislature to consider a complete repeal of these restrictive laws, which do nothing to protect the health of citizens of Virginia.