Women caught in conservative TRAP in Virginia

Conservative Virginia lawmakers vote for stealth rules to shut down women's access to reproductive health services.

The vote stems from legislation that cleared the legislature two years ago and has been slowly making its way through implementation.

The General Assembly voted in 2011 to impose stricter building codes on clinics, calling for costly physical renovations, such as wider hallways and doorways, expanded parking and entrance awnings. Supporters said the ­changes ensure the safety of women undergoing abortions at the clinics. Opponents said the measure was a veiled attempt to shutter them.

Actually, you don't have to be an opponent to see the agenda here. Couldn't be more obvious. Besides it's no secret. The theocrats have publicized their plan to the boss of all our lady parts.

The regulations — part of a nationwide anti-choice campaign to adopt so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP, laws...

Friday’s vote represents the latest skirmish in an ongoing conservative war on abortion clinics. In the past three months, states have proposed an astonishing 694 provisions restricting or rolling back women’s reproductive rights. Efforts to shutter local abortion clinics disproportionately impact low-income women and significantly increase the incidence unintended pregnancies.

The theocrats assure us they only have the best of intentions:

“We need to be assured that a Kermit Gosnell-type practitioner is not operating in Virginia,” said Janet Robey, state director of Concerned Women for America.

Which of course has it ass-backwards. It's exactly this kind of restriction on responsible health care providers that leads to "Gosnell-type practitioners" who are more than willing to prey on low income and otherwise desperate women.