Busiest abortion clinic in Virginia closes due to state and local lawmakers’ interference
A women’s health care clinic in Fairfax City that performed more abortions than any other location in Virginia has closed, and it’s unclear whether it will reopen elsewhere.
The closure, and the clinic’s difficulty finding new space, highlight a growing issue in the abortion debate: changes in local and state regulations and standards for abortion clinics.
NOVA Women’s Healthcare was in an office building on Eaton Place, just off Route 123 near Interstate 66, since 2006. Antiabortion protesters stood outside the building daily, the clinic was sued twice in the past three years by its landlord, and it likely faced a need to upgrade or move after Virginia changed its regulations to require abortion providers to have hospital-grade facilities.
After finding a possible alternative space in March, the clinic applied for a nonresidential use permit to retrofit that space in another office building. But the permit was denied in May because officials decided parking at the building was not adequate, zoning administrator Michelle Coleman said.
NOVA chose not to seek a special exception to the parking rules from the city council, Coleman said.
The Fairfax City Council then became aware of the clinic’s attempt to relocate. On Tuesday, the council amended its zoning ordinance to require that all clinics, henceforward to be called medical care facilities, obtain a special-use permit and approval from the council. Previously, clinics were treated the same as doctor’s offices and were not required to go through the city council.
As a County Democratic Party chair, I get a lot of angry comments from citizens who are absolutely outraged that our organization would dare to get involved in local city council elections. “These are non-partisan elections! ” they say. “It should be about electing the best person!” they say.
The truth is that there is no such thing as a non-partisan election. The values of a city councilor matter, and cases like this one exemplify why. It does, in fact, matter what city councilors think about national issues, because it affects important decisions like this one.
Moreover, the case highlights the importance of state legislature battles. Virginia may have been a blue state in the last two presidential elections, but its statehouse is controlled by Republicans.
Every election, all the way down the ballot, is important. Every election matters.
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