The Trump administration is seeking to block veterans from receiving abortions at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs in cases of rape or incest, or when a veteran’s pregnancy has imperiled their health, according to new paperwork filed by the administration.
The administration is seeking to roll back a Biden-era policy that, for the first time, permitted the VA to counsel veterans and their eligible family members about abortion, as well as offer the procedure to veterans in limited circumstances, even in states that banned abortion after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022. At the time,veterans affairs secretary Denis McDonough called the move a “patient safety decision”.
More than a dozen states ban virtually all abortions. As of 2024, more than half of female veterans live in states that ban abortion or are likely to, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families.
However, in a Friday filing in the federal register, the Trump administration said that the Biden-era policy was “legally questionable” and out of step with congressional actions that limited the VA’s ability to provide abortions. Anti-abortion activists have spent years advocating against federal funding for abortion access of any kind. Due to their efforts, it is already illegal to use federal dollars to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency.
In its filing, the administration said that, despite the rollback, veterans who are undergoing miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies – which are nonviable pregnancies in which an embryo implants outside of the uterus – would still be able to receive care. Veterans would also be able to get abortions “when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term”. (The Department of Veterans Affairs did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.)
However, the administration’s assurances may face practical hurdles in states that outlaw abortion. Since Roe fell, dozens of women have said that they were denied medically necessary abortions, despite the fact that abortion bans typically permit abortions in situations where a person’s health or life is under threat. Doctors have also said that, because abortion bans are worded so ambiguously, they are often unsure if or when they can step in to end dangerous pregnancies. Instead, doctors have been forced to delay care until patients get sick enough that they can legally intervene.
“Those who fight for all our freedom must have the most basic freedom to control their own bodies and futures – and this rule robs them of it,” Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement on Monday. “Taking away access to heath care shows us that the Trump administration will always put politics and retribution over people’s lives.”
The rollback of the Biden-era policy has not yet been finalized. The public has until early September to comment on the Trump administration’s proposal.
