WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs, which blocked abortions from its medical benefits package prior to changes made by President Joe Biden’s administration, is proposing to reinstate that exclusion, The Daily Wire has learned.
Before Biden’s administration removed an exclusion on abortions and abortion counseling from the Veterans Affairs medical benefits package, that exclusion had been in place since the package was first established in 1999 through the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, a proposed rule from the Department of Veterans Affairs states.
Under the exclusion, abortions, which end the life of unborn babies, were expressly excluded from the package.
Veterans Affairs is also proposing that it reinstate exclusions on abortions and abortion counseling for the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA), the proposed rule shows — exclusions also removed in 2022.
“We take this action to ensure that VA provides only needed medical services to our nation’s heroes and their families,” reads the proposed rule.
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A Veterans Affairs spokesperson shared in a statement that “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.”
“VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norms,” the spokesperson noted.
The VA notes that the new policy will not prevent the department from caring for women in life-threatening circumstances — a fear commonly promoted by critical media when discussing abortion policy.
Under the Biden administration, the former president directed the VA to amend its “medical regulations to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and establish exceptions to the exclusion on abortions in the medical benefits package for veterans who receive care set forth in that package, and to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and expand the exceptions to the exclusion on abortions for Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) beneficiaries.”
The administration’s VA Department said at the time, shortly after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, that the move was necessary to help protect “the lives and health of veterans.”
“As abortion bans come into force across the country, veterans in many States are no longer assured access to abortion services in their communities, even when those services are needed,” the Biden era rule said. “VA has determined that an abortion is ‘needed’ pursuant to 38 U.S.C. 1710, when sought by a veteran, if determined needed by a health care professional, when the life or health of the pregnant veteran would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term or when the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest. Unless VA removes its existing prohibitions on abortion-related care and makes clear that needed abortion-related care is authorized, these veterans will face serious threats to their life and health.”
