Trump administration moves to reinstate VA health policy fully excluding abortion

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The Trump administration said Aug. 1 it would revoke its predecessor’s policy rule that included abortion as a covered health benefit for veterans and their dependents, and return to a policy of fully excluding abortion and abortion-counseling.

The previous rule, implemented by the Biden administration in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its precedent finding abortion access a constitutional right, allowed the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide abortion-related counseling, as well as perform some abortions in certain circumstances, such as rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life. The federal rule was issued to be in effect regardless of state law on abortion.

But in a notice published in the Federal Register, the VA said it would revoke the Biden rule and reinstate the previous policy that had been in place since 1999.

“We take this action to ensure that VA provides only needed medical services to our nation’s heroes and their families,” a scheduled release from the department for the Federal Register said.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, head of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, praised the decision, in an Aug. 2 statement.

“It is only fitting that an agency established to care for those who so often put their lives on the line to defend the innocent is freed from participation in procedures that do not support innocent life,” said Archbishop Broglio, who also serves as the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child, and called for strengthening support for those living in poverty or other causes that can push women toward having an abortion.

Archbishop Broglio said he was “deeply grateful” to Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and President Donald Trump “for returning to the prior policy that prohibits the use of federal funds to end the life of the preborn in the womb.”

Supporters of the Biden-era policy argued female service members may be assigned to states that have restricted abortion, and that their access should be protected in difficult circumstances. Opponents argued — in addition to voicing moral concerns around abortion ending the life of an unborn child — that the VA exceeded its authority in attempting to override state-level restrictions on the practice.

“After veterans put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms, the Trump administration is trying to rob them of their own freedoms and putting their health at risk,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights, argued in a statement.

“This administration is sending a clear message to veterans — that their health and dignity aren’t worth defending,” Northup said. “To devalue veterans in this way and take away life-changing health care would be unconscionable. This shows you just how extreme this administration’s anti-abortion stance is — they would rather a veteran suffer severely than receive an abortion.”

In a statement, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America praised the administration’s decision “for restoring the rule of law and ending the Biden Administration’s illegal policy that forced taxpayers to fund abortions through VA hospitals and violated state pro-life laws.”

“Instead of prioritizing the real and urgent needs of our veterans, the Biden-Harris Administration turned VA hospitals into abortion centers — violating longstanding law and betraying the will of the American people who strongly oppose forced taxpayer-funded abortions,” the statement said. “Veterans deserve compassionate care and healing and should not be subjected to the violence of abortion. The American people should never have been made to bankroll it. Thankfully this injustice is now corrected.”

The reversal of the Biden-era rule will undergo a public comment period that ends Sept. 3.

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