The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is expected to rescind a Biden-era policy allowing abortions to be performed under certain circumstances at affiliated hospitals.
Last month, the department announced a proposed rule to remove the Biden-era policy at its hospitals, with the official window for public comment being closed last week.
In a statement provided to The Christian Post, a VA spokesperson described the Biden administration policy as a “politically motivated change” to the longstanding standard of not providing abortions.
“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,” stated the spokesperson. “VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norm.”
The spokesperson explained that the VA was “following the established rulemaking process, including reviewing all public comments in response to the proposal,” noting that there will be no changes made “until the rule is finalized.”
“VA’s new policy will not prevent the department from providing care to pregnant women in life-threatening circumstances,” the spokesperson added.
In September 2022, the Biden administration announced that it was instituting an interim final rule that would allow VA hospitals to perform abortions and abortion counseling for situations involving rape, incest, or life-threatening medical emergencies.
Denis McDonough, who was the VA secretary at the time, was quoted in the announcement as saying that this was “a patient safety decision.”
“Pregnant Veterans and VA beneficiaries deserve to have access to world-class reproductive care when they need it most. That’s what our nation owes them, and that’s what we at VA will deliver,” stated McDonough.
The new rule had come in response to the United States Supreme Court ruling earlier that year in Dobbs v. Jackson that abortion was not a constitutional right, overturning the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade and allowing states to ban abortion in nearly all circumstances.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wrote a letter to McDonough at the time criticizing the new rule and arguing that a federal law from 1992 prohibited the VA from providing abortions.
“Only Congress can change federal law, and Congress has held for the past 30 years that the VA is not permitted to offer abortion services,” wrote Lankford at the time. “Abortion is not and will never be healthcare. Healthcare protects life. Abortion takes life.”
