The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to halt nearly all abortions performed at VA medical centers and to stop covering the cost of the procedure for beneficiaries of its health program for spouses and dependents.
In a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, the VA said it planned to return to regulations that were in place until September 2022 — excluding abortions from its medical services coverage unless the pregnancy threatened the life of the mother.
Three months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal protections for abortion rights in June 2022, the VA announced it would offer abortion services to veterans and eligible dependents in cases of rape, incest, and danger to the life or health of the mother.
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At the time, then-VA Secretary Denis McDonough said the department had the legal authority to offer the procedure and that it was obligated to do so to ensure that veterans had the same access to abortions as offered by the Defense Department.
VA officials said in Monday’s announcement, however, that the department’s 2022 rule was “inappropriate” and also “legally questionable.”
“The last administration used [the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization] to do the exact opposite of preventing overreach, creating a purported federal entitlement to abortion for veterans where none had existed before and without regard to state law,” stated the notice, signed by VA Secretary Doug Collins.
In the first year of the 2022 ruling, the VA provided or covered 88 abortion procedures, including nine that were performed because the life of the mother was endangered and 15 that resulted from rape.
The remaining 64 were done because the pregnancy threatened the mother’s health — a condition that conservative lawmakers said was not a permissible reason under a federal law that allows government funds to be used for abortion only in case of rape, incest or life-threatening conditions, known as the Hyde Amendment.
When pressed, the Democrat-led administration repeatedly declined to disclose what it considered to be health concerns beyond life-threatening conditions that would allow a patient to receive a covered abortion, raising concerns that the department was offering the procedure beyond the Hyde Amendment limitations.
An early version of Monday’s announcement, published late Friday, drew criticism from lawmakers, abortion rights groups and veterans advocacy organizations who say access to abortions is an essential part of female veterans’ health care.
They noted that the proposed regulation goes beyond federal allowances by not including access for victims of rape or incest.
“Current VA policy guarantees, at the very least, veterans who are raped or who could die without an abortion can get the care they need,” said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut in a statement Friday. “[This decision] is a harmful and reckless move that reneges on the department’s promise to provide every veteran the health care they earned and deserve.”
“This administration is sending a clear message to veterans — that their health and dignity aren’t worth defending,” Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. “This shows you just how extreme this administration’s anti-abortion stance is — they would rather a veteran suffer severely than receive an abortion.”
A VA spokesman said Monday that, prior to the 2022 change, “federal law and long-standing precedent across Democrat and Republican administrations prevented VA from providing abortions and abortion counseling.”
“VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norms,” the official said.
Republicans were quick to praise the proposed reversal. Six members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee released a joint statement Friday calling the previous policy “disastrous” and saying it was created for political purposes.
“It’s simple — taxpayers do not want their hard-earned money spent on paying for abortions — and VA’s sole focus should always be providing service-connected health care and benefits to the veterans they serve,” wrote the representatives, led by Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois.
Of the 2 million female veterans in the U.S., 42% use VA health care and are of childbearing age, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a health care research institute. More than 417,000 people use the CHAMPVA program, including spouses and dependent children of certain disabled or deceased veterans.
Under the proposal, only veterans and family members who face a life-threatening emergency, including treatment for an ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage, would have access to the procedure if a physician certifies that carrying the fetus to full term would endanger the life of the mother.
The proposal will be open for a 30-day public comment period, which runs through Sept. 3. After consideration of the comments, the ruling could be adjusted before becoming final.
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