Veterans Affairs Division reimposing close to complete abortion ban

The Veterans Affairs Division is reimposing a close to complete ban on abortions for veterans and their households after a Justice Division memo from the Workplace of Authorized Counsel final week asserted that it is in opposition to federal regulation for the VA to offer them in most situations.

VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz instructed CBS Information, “The Division of Justice’s opinion states that VA will not be legally licensed to offer abortions, and VA is complying with it instantly. DOJ’s opinion is in step with VA’s proposed rule, which continues to work its means via the regulatory course of.”

In 2022, the division modified its 1999 abortion guidelines to permit “entry to abortions when the life or well being of the pregnant Veteran can be endangered if the being pregnant have been carried to time period, or when the being pregnant is the results of rape or incest,” the VA web site states.

Now, underneath the steerage given by the Workplace of Authorized Counsel, the VA’s proposed rule reinstates “the complete exclusion on abortions and abortion counseling from the medical advantages package deal.”

The proposed rule does have one exception, stating that the “VA has by no means understood this coverage to ban offering care to pregnant ladies in life-threatening circumstances, together with therapy for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages, which have been lined underneath the VA’s medical advantages package deal previous to the 2022. … For the avoidance of doubt, the proposed rule would clarify that the exclusion for abortion doesn’t apply ‘when a doctor certifies that the lifetime of the mom can be endangered if the fetus have been carried to time period.'”

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington condemned the VA’s transfer in a put up on X, saying it “is yet one more assault on reproductive freedom and a profound betrayal of veterans who put their lives on the road for our nation.” And Democratic Rep. Judy Chu of California, mentioned on X that denying veterans “the liberty to make their very own well being care selections—particularly survivors of navy sexual trauma—is merciless, harmful, and an insult to all who’ve served.”

The VA argued in its proposed rule that it’s “with out query that VA has the authority to bar provision of abortion companies via the VA medical advantages package deal to veterans” and says the Biden administration carried out the modifications to the abortion ban in response to the Supreme Court docket’s Dobbs choice overturning ladies’s abortion rights. “In doing so, the administration predicted a excessive demand for VA abortions that by no means materialized,” the proposed rule states.

The Heart for Reproductive Rights mentioned in a press launch that the coverage “is successfully a nationwide abortion ban for veterans, stopping them and their households from receiving abortions at VA well being care services in all 50 states, together with the 14 states that defend abortion rights.”

The VA’s coverage change was first reported by MS Now.