City seeks opinion on abortion clinics

The Manassas city council voted Wednesday to allow the city attorney to contract with Virginia attorney William H. Hurd for a second opinion on whether the council can regulate abortion and other clinics in the city.

The council decided to seek Hurd’s advice after an informal opinion from attorney general Robert F. McDonnell to Virginia Senator Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II-37th (R) affirmed the city’s authority to regulate clinics.

In a letter to Cuccinelli dated July 10, 2007 McDonnell states “It is my opinion that the greater weight of the law suggests that the City Council has limited authority to enact an ordinance consistent with its charter, general statutory law, and constitutional jurisprudence, regulating abortion clinics, including one similar to the health and safety provisions of Senate Bill 146.”

The initial bill, which Cuccinelli introduced in 2004 would have forced abortion clinics in Virginia to be licensed like hospitals, was defeated 9-6 at the Education and Health Committee before reaching the Senate floor.

A similar bill was passed through the House of Delegates in 2007 but died again 8-7 in Senate committee.

In the 2008 General Assembly, Delegate Matthew J. Lohr, R-Harrisonburg, introduced a bill requiring abortion clinics to be licensed and comply with requirements currently in place for ambulatory centers. After passing through the House of Delegates 60 to 37, it was shot down in the Senate Education and Health Committee.

The agreement to take another step into the abortion arena was not without some second-guessing. At the Wednesday meeting, councilman Steven Smith sought to clarify the motives of councilman Marc Aveni, who has championed the abortion regulation efforts in the city.

Aveni said he has received numerous questions from residents in regards to the health and safety of women who receive abortions at the Amethyst Health Center located off Sudley Road in Manassas.

Smith said he wanted to make sure that Aveni’s intention was not to keep women from having abortions in the city. Aveni assured the council that was not his intention.

As a reason to do it, Aveni compared regulating abortion clinics to the city’s imminent involvement with the Immigration & Customs Enforcement 287 (g) program, which allows Manassas to enforce federal immigration law at the local level.

Councilman Steven Randolph said he didn’t see the connection, stating that 287 (g) program was one initiated by the feds compared to what would be a locality-run regulatory program for abortion clinics. Currently, no Virginia locality has a similar program.

“The fundamental question [to ask] is can you or can’t you, and if you can, then what are the things that you can legally do,” Aveni said.

As part of the decision to work with Hurd, the council will be seeking an initial closed meeting with the attorney to discuss the scope of the help he will be providing. The council has capped the consultation fees it will pay Hurd at $10,000.

Hurd has argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including two cases involving the First Amendment and one involving federal special education law. He served as the State Solicitor General from 1999 to 2004, Senior Counsel to the Attorney General from 1998 to 1999 and Deputy Attorney General from 1994 to 1998.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.