Photo: Alamy
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs under the Trump administration is rescinding a Biden-era policy that allowed abortions to be performed within the VA medical system, returning to long-standing federal restrictions in place before 2022.
The move reverses a rule issued by the Biden administration in September 2022, which permitted abortions in limited circumstances for veterans and eligible dependents in cases of rape, incest or when a pregnancy endangered a woman’s life or health.
The policy was adopted in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned authority to regulate abortion to the states.
Republican lawmakers and legal analysts had criticized the Biden policy as exceeding the VA’s statutory authority. The Veterans Health Care Act of 1993 prohibits the VA from providing abortion services, with narrow exceptions only when a pregnancy’s risks are increased by a service-connected condition.
A 2022 memo from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service concluded the Biden rule was likely unlawful, stating that “it seems unlikely that a court would uphold regulations that had been revised to allow the VA to make such services available.”
VA leadership defended the reversal, asserting it brings the agency back in line with both federal law and historical precedent.
“It is without question that VA has the authority to bar provision of abortion services through the VA medical benefits package to veterans,” the department said. A spokesperson added that “VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norms.”
Critics of the 2022 rule argued that it created a de facto federal entitlement to abortion services through VA hospitals, overriding state laws and sidestepping congressional approval.
“Prior to the Biden administration’s politically motivated change in 2022, federal law and longstanding precedent across Democrat and Republican administrations prevented VA from providing abortions and abortion counseling,” the spokesperson said.
The pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America praised the rollback.
“We thank President Trump and VA Secretary Collins 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,” the group said in a statement. “Veterans deserve compassionate care and healing and should not be subjected to the violence of abortion.”