Pregnant veterans would no longer be allowed to receive abortions at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy threatens their health under a proposed rule from the Trump administration that would revoke a Biden-era policy expanding abortion access.
Months after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022, the Biden administration implemented a rule change allowing VA for the first time to provide abortion services for veterans and eligible family members in limited circumstances, including in states with abortion bans.
The VA said at the time that those bans, some near-total, were “creating urgent risks” to the lives of pregnant veterans. Thus, VA said, the policy change was “essential.”
In its filing Friday, the Trump administration called the 2022 rule change “inappropriate” and “legally questionable.” The Trump team’s move to once again restrict abortion access has received praise from conservatives who staunchly oppose federal funding for abortion services of any kind. VA said it would continue to provide care to pregnant patients in life-threatening circumstances.
Lindsay Church, executive director of Minority Veterans of America, which pushed against the proposal, worries that if the new abortion rule takes effect, it would push veterans away from receiving health care through VA.
“If you were a veteran, what would you choose?” Church said. “I wouldn’t choose the institution that told me that I absolutely have to be dying. I would go anywhere else.”
A VA spokesperson called the Biden-era policy “politically motivated.” Trump’s proposed rule, which is open for a 30-day public comment period that started Monday, would bring VA “back in line with historical norms,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
A final rule could land any time after public comment closes on Sept. 3.
From 1999 to 2022, VA excluded nearly all abortions and abortion counseling for veterans and their spouses, children and others covered by the department’s benefits package.
When the Biden administration expanded abortions through the VA, it was among the few strategies officials could leverage to protect access to the procedure after the high court overturned Roe v. Wade. But that protection applied only in rare cases.
The VA rule mirrored the policy of the Defense Department, which can perform or pay for abortions for service members and their beneficiaries only in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. The Biden-era VA said in 2022 that it was “unconscionable” that veterans did not have access to “these same critical services following their transition to civilian life.”
The policy was geared toward veterans living in states hostile to abortion, especially in the South, the region that most severely restricted abortion access after Roe fell.
In some of those states, lawmakers tried to circumvent the new VA guidance, saying they would punish VA workers who performed abortions not allowed under state law. The threats led the Justice Department to say it would give legal defense to VA medical workers, regardless of their location.
In 2022, VA estimated that it would provide more than 1,000 abortions for veterans and beneficiaries each year under the rule change. The Trump administration said in its proposal that the number is actually much lower - fewer than 150 abortions annually.
The proposal also states that the department will continue treating veterans who miscarry or have an ectopic pregnancy, when the embryo implants outside the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies are never viable.
The proposal was in the works for months. Since March, advocates have met with administration officials to make their pitch for abortion access at the VA. In April, more than 100 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to VA Secretary Douglas A. Collins, urging him to keep the policy on the books.
The last meeting VA officials held was with the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization that opposes abortion, on July 9. In a written submission, ADF attorneys argued that the Biden rule change was an instance of federal overreach, according to a copy posted on the Federal Register. They included cost analyses on VA-provided abortions, stating that “increased abortions means fewer births” and that “pro-abortion policies place our nation’s labor force-and entire economic future-at great risk.”
On July 24, Collins approved the proposed rule document to be posted publicly.
Comments