Busiest Abortion Clinic in Virginia Closes

Busiest Abortion Clinic in Virginia Closes

by Staff Writer

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A clinic in Fairfax City that performed more abortions than anywhere else in Virginia has closed due to increasing local and state regulations.

A clinic in Fairfax City that performed more abortions than anywhere else in Virginia has closed. According to The Washington Post, this closure is the result of the increasing number of state and local regulations and standards for abortion clinics in this country.
The clinic, NOVA Women's Healthcare, needed to move to a larger space to accommodate a new Virginia state regulation requiring abortion clinic to maintain hospital-grade facilities and equipment. But local officials denied the clinic's nonresidential use permit because parking at the building wasn't adequate, and the Fairfax City Council then amended its zoning ordinance to require that all clinics obtain a $4,800 special-use permit and approval from the council.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, the NOVA clinic performed more than 3,000 abortions in 2012 and more than 3,500 in 2011, the most in any facility in the state by far.
Operation Rescue, an antiabortion group, called the closing "huge," saying 71 percent of the abortion clinics inthe nation have closed in the past 15 years. Opponents to the closing said the clinic provided low-cost health care services to women besides abortion.