To the editor:

In the June 27 Associated Press article, “Abortion clinic regulations get more detailed,” Kansas abortion opponents misrepresent the National Abortion Federation’s Clinical Policy Guidelines (CPGs) in their attempts to justify the state’s new onerous and unnecessary abortion regulations.

Our CPGs are evidence-based and set the standard for quality abortion care in North America.

The Kansas regulations, on the other hand, do not ensure safe patient care. By imposing numerous and unreasonable rules on abortion providers — including dictating the room temperature and exact sizes of cabinets and janitorial closets — they just make it more difficult for abortion providers to remain open and for women to access the abortion care they need.

Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures provided in the United States due in large part to the skill and expertise of abortion providers who offer high-quality care. There is no medical justification for imposing new regulations on abortion providers in Kansas, and certainly nothing in our CPGs to support targeting abortion providers in this way.

The new Kansas regulations are politically motivated and are not about ensuring that abortion care is “safe.” They are about ensuring that abortion care is non-existent.