active-rva:

active-rva:

For the past several years, anti-abortion forces in Virginia have been working to pass what are informally called TRAP regulations- Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers. These are regulations that place spurious burdens on abortion clinics in order to close them down. They are a means of ending abortion access in a given state without challenging Roe v. Wade.

Implications

These regulations means that abortion clinics must conform, not to any meaningful new safety standards, but to architectural standards that are irrelevant to their function and prohibitively expensive to retrofit to. These standards include an awning over the front door, a certain number of parking spaces, and a certain door frame width.

Without very significant fundraising, the majority of abortion clinics in Virginia will close. This means that people who don’t have the insurance and funds to see their doctor and be admitted to a hospital for the procedure will loose access to abortion care. Cancer screenings, family planning, and other reproductive services will also become inaccessible to many people without good private insurance.

Action

The final Board of Health vote is happening on Friday, April 12th. If you can’t attend, invite your friends, the sooner the better. Because the meeting is during the day, we need to give people ample time to switch shifts, find childcare, and secure transportation. You can work out carpool details on the event page. 

The Board is going to approve the regulations; our job here is to crowd out Americans United for Life and the Family Foundation, to make sure they can’t dominate the public comment period and control the media narrative.

Until March 29th, you can also submit a public comment to the Virginia government regarding TRAP. You can do so through the title link.

This is important. This is the only official record of public comment regarding TRAP legislation that will be counted; commenting at a public hearing or Board of Health vote is not sufficient. The record on this website will be the official public record.

There’s only one week left.

thespoonrooster:

So I was going to play a house show in Richmond on March 16th.

I just found out one of the bands I would be playing with, Celtic Panda, has not only a rapist in it—fellow named Macon Mann—but at least one member who knows he’s a rapist and doesn’t care.

My question to…