‘Bankrolled’ by Planned Parenthood, McAuliffe pushes looser abortion rules clinic rules

As a candidate, Terry McAuliffe campaigned on a pro-choice platform. As governor, McAuliffe is beginning to transform that platform into policy.

This week, McAuliffe announced he is appointing five new members to the Virginia Board of Health and ordering them to review state regulations that impose the same construction standards for hospitals on first-trimester abortion facilities.

It’s a signal the Democratic governor is ready to wield his executive power to alter yet another socially charged policy.

“I am concerned that the extreme and punitive regulations adopted last year jeopardize the ability of most women’s health centers to keep their doors open and place in jeopardy the health and reproductive rights of Virginia women,” McAuliffe said in a news conference Monday.

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