Report: Dept. of Veterans Affairs Orders End to Abortions, Abortion Counseling at Facilities
In a sweeping reversal to the Biden administration’s pro-abortion agenda, the Trump administration has barred the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from aborting the unborn babies of veterans and their dependents.
The restriction follows a memo from Joshua Craddock, deputy assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) on December 18 to the VA stating that the department is not allowed to perform abortions under any provision of the law, the Hill reported.
The memo revoked a Biden-era OLC opinion that allowed the VA to provide abortions and abortion counseling to pregnant veterans and their dependents. The pro-abortion Biden administration promulgated a rule in September 2022 allowing veterans and covered dependents to obtain taxpayer-funded abortions in cases of rape and incest and to protect the life or health of the pregnant woman, as well as abortion counseling. The Biden administration issued the rule in response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling that had invented a constitutional right to abortion.
Screenshots purportedly obtained by the outlet of a separate internal VA memo, dated December 22 and sent to the leaders of the department’s 18 regional integrated service networks, states that the agency “must comply” with the OLC’s memo and that the VA will no longer provide abortions or abortion counseling “effective immediately.”
The internal memo also notes that nothing about the VA’s policy “prohibit[s] providing care to pregnant women in life-threatening circumstances, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages.” (Read more from “Report: Dept. of Veterans Affairs Orders End to Abortions, Abortion Counseling at Facilities” HERE)
