http://timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834300037<snip>
Senate committee members rejected today a House bill that would require abortion clinics to meet some of the standards of ambulatory surgical centers. Currently, abortion clinics are regulated as physician's offices.
Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, said his bill would improve health care for women. Similar bills have been offered in previous legislative sessions, only to fail in the Senate Education and Health Committee, which yesterday turned down Marshall's legislation.
Abortion-rights advocates said clinics that could not afford to make extensive changes required by the standards would end up closing. They also said the bill singles out abortion, while many other procedures done in doctors' offices are just as invasive.
Also getting the boot from the committee was legislation by Del. William R. Janis, R-Henrico, that would require any doctor who treated a woman for complications of abortion to report that information to the state.
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