What's the matter with Kansas?

Recently, a new law was signed by Kansas governor Sam Brownback that significantly altered standards by which all (three) abortion clinics in the state must operate by. These regulations are onerous are best. New regulations include:

• Procedure rooms be at least 150 square feet in size


• Storage areas for “janitorial supplies and equipment” be at least 50 square feet per procedure room


• Recovery area must be at least 80 square feet per patient


• Temperature must be between 68 and 73 degrees in operating rooms


• Temperature must be between 70 and 75 degrees in recovery rooms


• Feature separate dressing rooms for staff and patients


• These dressing rooms must be equipped with a toilet, a sink and a place to store clothes


• Have 13 different types of drugs on hand


• A patient is now required to stay in the recovery room for at least two hours after her procedure, even if the procedure requires no anesthesia


• Clinics must also have a licensed nurse in the clinic when abortions are done

AND THE LIST GOES ON.

These regulations were sent to providers on June 17th. The deadline by which clinics had to comply to these new requirements by is....

Wait for it...

July 1.

Yup. You have 14 days to completely redesign your clinic. You know, just draw up some blueprints. Meet with some construction people, figure out the pricing. Order the materials. Complete the construction. In two weeks. NBD.

Obviously, many are up in arms stating that these new requirements are ridiculous and exist solely to shut clinics down. Republicans and anti-choicers counter saying they are just looking out for women’s health. “Without any oversight, women really are in danger,” Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said Tuesday, as she took a sip out of her piping hot cup of bullshit.

The Planned Parenthood believes they will be in full compliance with the regulations by the deadline, but the Center for Women’s Health in Overland Park is likely to be denied a license due to these new regulations. They are challenging the law in court saying they were not given enough time to comply to the new law. Aid for Women, a clinic in Kansas City, is closed, at least temporarily due to the new restrictions. It is worth noting they were not even inspected, but were simply denied a license based on information included in their application.

What is interesting about this is that there are places, in the state of Kansas, that do not have these type of guidelines. Specific room size, temperature, patient recovery time, etc are not regulated in this way. Those places?

HOSPITALS AND SURGERY CENTERS.

*FACE PALM*