Trump Administration Moves to Ban Abortion Care for Veterans

Veterans and their families are on the cusp of losing all abortion care, including counseling. On August 1, the Trump administration announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to no longer provide abortions for veterans and their beneficiaries in any circumstances, including in instances of rape or incest, or to preserve the health of a pregnant person. Providers in the VA health care system won’t be able to even discuss the option of abortion care with their patients. The proposed rule change will apply to veterans living in every state, including states with laws, constitutional amendments, and regulations that protect access to abortion.

“It’s so inhumane, considering these folks signed up to serve our country and were promised a comprehensive health care system when they transitioned to civilian life,” said Jackii Wang, senior legislative analyst for the reproductive rights and health team at the National Women’s Law Center. “Our country is very proud of the promises it makes to our veterans, but some civilians have better access to abortion care than their veteran counterparts. And some veterans, especially ones that live in rural places, their VA facilities are the only place they can get any kind of health care.”

The VA had a total abortion ban, which included abortion counseling, until September 2022, when the Biden administration carved out exceptions, allowing health care providers to discuss abortion options or referrals with patients in cases of rape, incest, and endangerment to the health or life of the pregnant person. Under the proposed rule change, there will be only an extremely narrow exception to save the life of a pregnant person. However, there’s evidence that existing health and life exceptions in state abortion bans are so unclear that they’ve caused confusion for health care providers and emergency room doctors, sometimes preventing them from practicing evidence-based medicine. And some women across the country have died despite these exceptions, Wang said.

Currently, there are more than 2 million women veterans, the fastest-growing population of veterans. About 400,000 women veterans of reproductive age live in states with either total abortion bans or severe restrictions. Additionally, more than 700,000 family members of veterans get their care from the VA. The proposed rule claims that only “140 beneficiaries on average needed abortion care in the years that it’s been allowed,” said Wang. The language in the rule “about that figure is extremely offensive and wholly ignorant, basically making the case that since only 140 veterans and beneficiaries needed [abortion care], we don’t need to provide this care, which is ridiculous; like if one person needed care for a heart attack or suicidality, you would treat them. And after the Dobbs decision, we’ve seen so many people be afraid of talking to their doctor about their options, so we don’t have data from the [VA] on how many people sought counseling about abortion care.”

An estimated one in three women veterans have experienced military sexual trauma, including sexual assault, during their military service. “This is medical violence,” said Dr. Erin Kirk, an advocate and co-founder of Not In My Marine Corps, which advocates against sexual harassment and assault in the U.S. Military, and a survivor of military sexual trauma. “The ramifications of [the proposed rule] are life-threatening. How is it helping anyone to take away medical providers’ ability and expertise? To have this health care option removed from us is just kind of a gut punch, and it feels like the country is telling us they don’t care about us. Every single time that something like this comes up, where it’s a touchy subject that revolves primarily around women and their life experiences, you don’t see the big VSOs [veterans’ services organizations] coming out in support of us. They just sit back and let this kind of violence happen to the women that served. The American Legion, Wounded Warrior, all the [large] organizations that earn millions of dollars off the backs of service members have gone silent. When it comes to harassment and women’s reproductive health care, LGBTQI issues, the big VSOs are afraid they’re going to lose their money, so they don’t want to get involved.”

More than half of homeless women veterans were sexually assaulted during their military service. Additionally, many veterans experience post-traumatic stress disorder, including from sexual assault, and an unwanted pregnancy could exacerbate the condition. “The thing that’s really important to consider is that this proposed rule explicitly rescinds abortion access for sexual assault survivors, and veterans who have complex health conditions, and these are exactly the population of veterans we should be most concerned about, and they should have access to any kind of care they need,” said Wang.

Active service members and their families also face barriers to abortion care, no matter where they are stationed. In October 2022, in response to the Dobbs decision, the Department of Defense made changes to its policies to try to safeguard abortion access for active service members. “Abortion was never covered, but during the Biden administration, they solidified that travel would be,” said Sylvia Ghazarian, executive director of the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national abortion fund that works directly with clinics to support people seeking abortions. But that meant “there was still a barrier because ultimately it’s the abortion funding that’s necessary to get care.”

However, on January 29, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth rescinded key components of the Biden administration policies, including providing travel allowances and ensuring that service members can take time off for abortion care; these changes went into effect immediately. The Military Health System, which provides health care to active-duty service members, military retirees, and their family members, serves approximately 1.62 million women of reproductive age. Active service members cannot choose where they serve, and over 2 million live in states with total abortion bans.

The public has until September 2 to provide feedback on the proposed rule. “There’s a responsibility of the VA to provide care to veterans who need it, and this proposed rule really violates that responsibility,” said Kierra B. Jones, senior policy analyst for the Women’s Initiative at the Center for American Progress. “Ultimately, veterans deserve access to essential health care, and if this rule were to be fully instated, people are not going to be able to get the care that they need. I also think it undermines trust in the VA system. It’s both a violation of care and a violation of trust for the demographic of veterans that is vastly growing.”

To comment on the proposed rule, go to the National Women’s Law Center portal or the Federal Register sitefor the rule.