Skip to content
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • The Center’s Impact
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Annual Reports
    • Corporate Engagement
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • Cases Archive
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Global Advocacy
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Stories
    • Events
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Press Releases
    • Statements
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • U.S. Abortion Rights: Resources
    • Maps
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
    • Repro Red Flags: Agency Watch
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Make a Donor Advised Fund Gift
    • Leave a Legacy Gift
    • Donate Gifts of Stock
    • Give a Gift in Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Employee Matching Gifts
    • Mail a Check
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Donate
icon-hamburger icon-magnifying-glass Donate
icon-magnifying-glass-teal

Virginia District Court Rejects Bid to Halt Lawsuit Against the Commonwealth’s Longstanding Abortion Restrictions

Center for Reproductive Rights - Center for Reproductive Rights - search logo
search Close Close icon
Center for Reproductive Rights -
Menu Close Menu Close icon
Donate

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • The Center’s Impact
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Annual Reports
    • Corporate Engagement
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • Cases Archive
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Global Advocacy
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Stories
    • Events
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Press Releases
    • Statements
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • U.S. Abortion Rights: Resources
    • Maps
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • After Roe Fell: Abortion Laws by State
    • Repro Red Flags: Agency Watch
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Make a Donor Advised Fund Gift
    • Leave a Legacy Gift
    • Donate Gifts of Stock
    • Give a Gift in Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Employee Matching Gifts
    • Mail a Check
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Related Content

Issues:

Abortion, Legal Protections

Regions:

United States

Work:

In the Courts, Engaging Policymakers, In the States (USA)

Type:

News, Press Releases

Case Archive

For updates on Center cases, explore our case archive here.

Follow the Center

Donate Now

Join Now

09.26.2018

In the Courts Abortion United States News

Virginia District Court Rejects Bid to Halt Lawsuit Against the Commonwealth’s Longstanding Abortion Restrictions

Justin Goldberg

Share

  • facebook
  • Twitter
  • linkedin
  • Email id
Virginia District Court Rejects Bid to Halt Lawsuit Against the Commonwealth’s Longstanding Abortion Restrictions
Decision allows challenge by Virginia health care providers to move forward

(PRESS RELEASE) A Virginia federal court today rejected the Commonwealth’s efforts to shut down litigation brought by a group of health care providers challenging several core components of Virginia’s burdensome statutory and regulatory scheme that target abortion providers and harm patients seeking abortion services by imposing burdensome and medically unnecessary requirements. The court allowed challenges to each of the laws to move forward in a lawsuit filed on behalf of plaintiffs Falls Church Healthcare Center, Whole Woman’s Health of Charlottesville, A Capital Women’s Health Clinic, and the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.



The lawsuit – brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, ACLU of Virginia, and O’Melveny & Meyers LLP on behalf of the health care providers– challenges abortion restrictions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, some of which have been on the books for more than 40 years. Based on today’s decision, challenges will move forward against:




  • Licensing Statute and Regulations: An extensive, onerous licensing scheme that applies only to medical facilities that provide five or more first-trimester abortions per month, targeting abortion providers for stringent licensure requirements that have no legitimate medical basis.

  • Second-Trimester Hospital Requirement: A medically unnecessary and outdated law requiring any second-trimester abortion to be performed in a hospital, despite no scientific evidence that this restrictive requirement makes abortion any safer than when performed in a medical office.   

  • Physician-Only Law: A law preventing highly qualified advanced-practice clinicians such as licensed nurse practitioners and certified nurse midwives from providing abortion care, despite their post-graduate training and extensive clinical experience, as well as scientific evidence that such clinicians perform the procedure safely and effectively.

  • Two-Trip Mandatory Delay Law: A law forcing patients to undergo an ultrasound and listen to information that serves no purpose, plus the offering of materials containing irrelevant, misleading, and false statements 24 hours before an abortion, which collectively require each patient to make two trips to a facility and delay their care.

  • Criminalization Laws: In conjunction with the other laws, statutes that treat abortion as a crime instead of a common, safe, and legal medical procedure.



“As an abortion-care provider, I can tell you unequivocally that the challenged laws do not protect women. I can also tell you that these burdens are not mere inconveniences. They are insulting, stigmatizing, and often devastating for the women who are forced to endure them, both economically and emotionally,” said Rosemary Codding, Founder and Director of the Falls Church Healthcare Center. “Allowing this lawsuit to move forward finally begins the process of allowing us to do our jobs as medical providers and giving Virginia women the freedom and opportunity to control their lives in the most fundamental way.” 



“I am so thrilled to hear the news today out of Virginia. It is always the right time to do the next right thing, and in today’s news cycle, this decision provides us all with a breath of fresh air. The decision shows the strength of the Whole Woman’s Health legal standard and that our fights for abortion rights are important in all states—be they red, blue or purple!  I look forward to leading the charge to bring relief and justice to women throughout the great state of Virginia as our case proceeds,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, President of Whole Woman’s Health Alliance.



“As a physician who dedicates my career to the health and well-being of women, I know firsthand just how difficult these medically unnecessary laws are on patients in need of care,” said Dr. Shanthi Ramesh, Medical Director, Virginia League for Planned Parenthood. “Mandatory waiting periods, licensing schemes, and other unnecessary restrictions do not improve patient safety. Instead they create more burdens and delay care. It’s time to strike these laws down once and for all and instead focus on shaping policies that expand access to reproductive health care including safe, legal abortion.”



 “Today’s ruling is the first step in correcting a generations-long offense affecting millions in the Commonwealth. The laws we have challenged lack any legitimate justification, medical or otherwise, and create constitutionally offensive obstacles to healthcare. They should not, and cannot, stand,” said Jenny Ma, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “For more than 25 years, the Center for Reproductive Rights has stood with our clients in and out of court, and we will continue our fight in the Commonwealth using the courts and the rule of law to protect Virginians’ fundamental rights.”



“Reproductive rights continue to be targeted nationally, including in Virginia. This case is an important challenge to the burdensome regulatory and bureaucratic restrictions facing abortion providers in Virginia, which significantly impede women’s ability to seek the legal abortion care to which they are constitutionally entitled. O’Melveny is pleased to work with our co-counsel the Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU, along with other plaintiffs’ counsel at Planned Parenthood, to challenge these restrictions and protect women’s right to safe and accessible reproductive health care,” said Nathaniel Asher, Counsel at O’Melveny. 



“The ACLU of Virginia is pleased with this outcome and looks forward to moving ahead to challenge the state’s onerous laws and regulations that seek to limit access to abortion services across the Commonwealth,” said local counsel Nicole Tortoriello from the ACLU of Virginia.



While allowing challenges to each of the laws to proceed, the court dismissed a cumulative undue burden claim alleging that the laws in combination imposed an undue burden.



Representing the Plaintiffs are Jenny Ma, Gail Deady, and Amy Myrick from the Center for Reproductive Rights; Jennifer Sandman of Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Nathaniel Asher and Daniel Sean Trainor from O’Melveny & Myers LLP; and local counsel Nicole Tortoriello from the ACLU of Virginia.


Related Posts

Azar v. Garza Amicus Brief

Abortion,United States,In the Courts

Complaint: Falls Church Healthcare Center et al. v. Norman Oliver et al.

Abortion,United States,In the Courts

Amicus Brief: State of California et al. v. Alex M. Azar et al.

Other Barriers, Contraception,United States,In the Courts

Sign up for email updates.

The most up-to-date news on reproductive rights, delivered straight to you.

Footer Menu

  • Careers
  • Privacy Policy
  • Gift Acceptance Policy
  • Contact Us

Center for Reproductive Rights
© (1992-2024)

Use of this site signifies agreement with our disclaimer and privacy policy.

Better Business Bureau Charity Watch Top Rated Center for Reproductive Rights
This site uses necessary, analytics and social media cookies to improve your experience and deliver targeted advertising. Click "Options" or click here to learn more and customize your cookie settings, otherwise please click "Accept" to proceed.
OPTIONSACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_UA-6619340-11 minuteNo description
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
_parsely_session30 minutesThis cookie is used to track the behavior of a user within the current session.
HotJar: _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjFirstSeen30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjid1 yearThis cookie is set by Hotjar. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
HotJar: _hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjIncludedInSessionSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjTLDTestsessionNo description
SSCVER1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for online advertising by creating user profile based on their preferences.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
IMRID1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for storing the start and end of the user session for nielsen statistics. It helps in consumer profiling for online advertising.
personalization_id2 yearsThis cookie is set by twitter.com. It is used integrate the sharing features of this social media. It also stores information about how the user uses the website for tracking and targeting.
TDID1 yearThe cookie is set by CloudFare service to store a unique ID to identify a returning users device which then is used for targeted advertising.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
adEdition1 dayNo description
akaas_MSNBC10 daysNo description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearNo description
geoEdition1 dayNo description
next-i18next1 yearNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo
Scroll Up