Virginia AG Says State Can Impose Tougher Oversight of Abortion Clinics

Wash. Post: Virginia can impose tougher abortion clinic oversight, AG Cuccinelli says, by Anita Kumar:

RICHMOND -- Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has concluded that the state can impose stricter oversight over clinics that perform abortions, a move immediately decried by abortion-rights organizations and others as an attempt to circumvent the General Assembly, which has repeatedly rejected similar measures.

Cuccinelli's legal opinion empowers the Board of Health, if it chooses, to require the clinics to meet hospital-type standards. Abortion-rights advocates say that could force some clinics to close because they would be unable to afford to meet the new requirements. . . .