Monday’s Manassas City Council meeting was as dramatic as everyone expected given two items on the agenda that would tighten zoning regulations surrounding abortion clinics as well as other medical facilities. The first zoning change would separate medical facilities into a different zoning category and the second would require certain clinics that perform outpatient surgeries like cosmetic surgery and abortion to get a “Special Use Permit” from the city before building could commence. Both agenda items were defeated 4-2.
Defenders of the proposed zoning changes called for “transparency” in the process of new medical facilities opening in Manassas, while opponents said that the amendments unfairly targeted women’s health clinics.
