By Olympia Meola
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Originally published October 19, 2012
Virginia's health commissioner, Dr. Karen Remley, resigned Thursday, saying
the environment in the wake of new abortion clinic regulations compromised her
ability to fulfill her duties.
Remley steered the massive state health agency during two gubernatorial
administrations and recently as the Virginia Board of Health dealt with
controversial abortion clinic regulations.
"Unfortunately, how specific sections of the Virginia Code pertaining to the
development and enforcement of these regulations have been, and continue to be,
interpreted has created an environment in which my ability to fulfill my duties
is compromised, and in good faith I can no longer serve in my role," she wrote
in a letter to Gov. Bob McDonnell.
Remley's resignation, effective Thursday, is the latest twist in a long and
highly charged process surrounding the state's abortion clinic regulations.
The Board of Health voted Sept. 14 to adopt regulations that require existing
abortion clinics in Virginia to be regulated like new hospitals.
The regulations, hailed by anti-abortion advocates, were approved over the
angry objections of abortion-rights advocates, who said the new rules were a
thinly veiled attempt to curtail access to abortion services by imposing
construction costs on clinics that would force many to close.
The entire story is here.
