Ken Cuccinelli, the Attorney General of Virginia, is at it again. The Washington Post’s Anita Kumar reports that in a legal opinion issued late last week, Cuccinelli argues that the state has the legal authority to regulate abortion clinics.
This opinion comes as an answer to a requests issued by Robert Marshall and Ralph Smith, a member of the House of Delegates and Senator, respectively. The legislators previously asked whether the state could regulate facilities that perform first-trimester abortions.
"This is a victory for women and children across Virginia," said Marshall in a letter to Governor Bob McDonnell following Cuccinelli’s opinion. "We should do everything possible to ensure that every woman’s life and health and their future pregnancies are protected by the Commonwealth of Virginia. To do otherwise is to shirk from government’s first responsibility."
Governor McDonnell agrees with Cuccinelli, but said following an appearance in Fredericksburg yesterday that changes in regulation may take some time—as much as a year or more.
Currently, according to the Post article, abortion clinics are subject to the same regulations as plastic surgery and oral offices. Abortion providers say that with these potential new regulations, many clinics may close or increase prices.