That being said, legislation aimed at requiring abortion providers to conform with code standards in their facilities does not strike me as assaultive to the right. The abortion clinic should have to conform to the same standards as, say, a dentist office.

The problem is that before setting the new requirements exclusively for abortion clinics all exisitng and proposed abortion clinics were surveyed, the "rules" were written specifically to exclude them, the regulations were passed almost without notice and with no time for debate, and the "effective date" was set so that nobody would be able to modify their facilities to meet them.

(The license for an existing clinic in Kansas City was REVOKED, effective less than two weeks after the regulations were published, reportedly on grounds that the men's visitors restroom was 8 inches short of a minimum length specified in the new regulation.)

John