As of March 2024, abortions are now included as one of the “healthcare services” that the VA is providing to female veterans, thanks to a new rule. This rule changes the VA’s longstanding exclusion of abortions and abortion counseling from its covered services and flagrantly violates the Veterans Health Care Act, a federal law that has prohibited VA facilities from performing abortions for over 30 years. It allows for taxpayer-funded abortions to be provided at VA medical centers as long as the abortion is done to either protect the life of the woman or because the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. Whether or not an abortion qualifies under one of these categories or is “needed” per the statutory language is determined “by healthcare professionals on a case-by-case basis and be consistent with established standards of care.”
Over the course of the rulemaking process, the VA failed to provide any substantive data on the number of abortions, the reasons for the abortions, or even at what stage in a pregnancy these abortions are taking place. If passed, Tuberville’s bill would require the VA to be transparent about the abortion-related services that it is providing on the government’s dime. The bill would force the VA to provide a quarterly report that provides the number of surgical abortions vs. abortions via mifepristone or other drugs, the number of weeks at which the abortion was conducted, the exception under which the abortion was justified, the state in which the procedure took place, and the total expenditures for facilitating these procedures.
Contact your Members of Congress today and ask them to support the VA Abortion Transparency Act.