Many clinics would simply shut down rather than comply. In Texas, when similar regulations were put in place, it took a long time to meet them. After several years, only 20 percent of providers had become licensed.

Those clinics that would be able to afford the changes in HB 574 would have to charge more -- upward of $1,000 more for a procedure.

That's the real problem with the bill. Instead of helping us pursue criminals, it would drive women into criminal clinics. Poor women chose to see Mr. Gosnell because he was cheap. If we force the best providers to raise their prices, we will create demand for more Gosnells.

If that happens, it's an indictment on the Legislature, and it's downright terrifying.

Our Department of Health is moving in the right direction by now conducting regular on-site inspections of health centers where abortions are performed. Since the revelations about Mr. Gosnell's operation surfaced, each clinic has been inspected and some have been inspected many times.

The Department of Health also has created a process to produce an automatic inspection after every complaint. Inspectors now monitor our clinics carefully, citing even small violations -- paper towels in the wrong place, fire extinguishers in the wrong containers or signatures on the wrong pages.

Thankfully, even with all this new oversight, they haven't found any violations that would have harmed women's health.

Any legislation responding to the Gosnell horror must actually prevent more Gosnells. The women of Pennsylvania rightly demand that of us. And we could do it. We could require the Health Department to inspect clinics annually. We could allow for a system of anonymous tips to the Health Department so that patients or staff could finger clinics violating the law.

What we shouldn't do is make the situation worse. And I'm very much afraid that's what would happen should HB 574 become law.