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Report: Dept. of Veterans Affairs Orders End to Abortions, Abortion Counseling at Facilities

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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)

Trump Admin Poised To Ditch Biden-Era Taxpayer-Funded Abortion For Veterans

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The Trump administration advanced its goal to eliminate taxpayer-funded abortion this week when it proposed ditching a Biden administration-era rule that forced taxpayers to subsidize veterans’ abortions.

One of President Donald Trump’s first actions in his second term was prohibiting Americans’ hard-earned dollars from going to organizations that lobby for, perform, or encourage abortions in other countries. The reinstatement of President Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy brought the U.S. back up to speed with Americans’ majority opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions — especially overseas.

Now, six months into the Trump administration’s return, the Department of Veteran Affairs proposed a rule to rescind a 2022 policy that lumped abortions and “abortion counseling” into veterans’ taxpayer-funded medical benefits package.

“We believe the 2022 interim final rule was not only inappropriate as a matter of fact but also was legally questionable,” the August 4th notice posted to the federal register states.

As the proposed rule notes, “the regulatory determination that abortion is not a ‘needed’ service for veterans was accepted by every Secretary and Presidential administration for over 20 years.” It wasn’t until the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling in 2022 that the Biden administration saw an opportunity to advance its abortion agenda through the VA. (Read more from “Trump Admin Poised To Ditch Biden-Era Taxpayer-Funded Abortion For Veterans” HERE)

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DOGE Discovers Outlandish Contract to Maintain VA’s Website

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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a month for website changes before canceling the contract and having an internal staffer take over, according to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

While combing through loads and loads of data, DOGE discovered a previous contract by the VA for its website maintenance.

“Good work by @DeptVetAffairs,” DOGE said in a post on X on Wednesday. “VA was previously paying ~$380,000/month for minor website modifications. That contract has not been renewed, and the same work is now being executed by 1 internal VA software engineer spending ~10 hours/week.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the VA for comment about the former contract.

VA Secretary Doug Collins has defended DOGE cuts at the VA as part of the new administration’s efforts to reform the department and better serve veterans. (Read more from “DOGE Discovers Outlandish Contract to Maintain VA’s Website” HERE)

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Veterans Administration Now Aborting Babies, Has Performed Dozens of Procedures

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The Department of Veterans Affairs provided 88 abortions in the first year that it offered the procedure, according to a document sent to Congress this month that was obtained by Military.com.

The number was given to the House Veterans Affairs Committee after the Republican-led panel threatened to subpoena the VA if it did not provide detailed data on the abortions it has provided.

While the department gave the committee top-line figures of how many abortions it performed, it declined to provide any more detailed data, citing privacy concerns — prompting committee leaders to renew their subpoena threat.

The VA began offering abortions for the first time in September 2022 after states banned or severely restricted the procedure in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The ruling overturned 50 years of nationwide abortion rights granted by Roe v. Wade. (Read more from “Veterans Administration Now Aborting Babies, Has Performed Dozens of Procedures” HERE)

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Veteran in Assisted Living Home Was Dead for 4 DAYS Without Anyone Realizing

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By The Blaze. The Department of Veterans Affairs has removed all veterans from an assisted living home in Van Nuys, California, after authorities discovered a dead veteran inside the building. . .

The Los Angeles Times reported that the deceased veteran’s body wasn’t even the only incident that had taken place at the California Villa home.

A 100-year-old veteran reportedly did not receive antibiotics for sepsis, a deadly infection, because Medicare did not cover the necessary drugs. The veteran was hospitalized twice in connection with the incident.

Another veteran at the facility was reportedly overdosed in error, and a third patient was charged $5 because he preferred to take his meals in his private room. . .

Special counsel Henry J. Kerner expressed his disgust at the conditions, writing in a letter to the White House on Thursday, “I am shocked that such lax oversight of facilities providing critical care for vulnerable veterans ever occurred.” (Read more from “Veteran in Assisted Living Home Was Dead for 4 Days Without Anyone Realizing” HERE)

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VA Cuts off Van Nuys Assisted Living Home That Reported Visit to Veteran Who Had Died

By Los Angeles Times. Federal officials pulled veterans from a Van Nuys assisted living home after finding that the facility had reported a social worker visiting a veteran who had been dead for four days, according to a report released Thursday. . .

Authorities from Washington, D.C., blamed the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System for failing to investigate and address “serious residential care concerns” at the facility, but added that program administrators had not reported the problems to upper management.

The healthcare system had California Villa on an approved list, and helped place veterans there, but suspended referrals and relocated most of their clients during the investigation in 2018.

The investigation was initiated by the U.S. Special Counsel based on whistleblower complaints. . .

The California Department of Social Services had sought to revoke California Villa’s license after finding that the facility in 2017 had not addressed serious safety issues stemming from a resident’s repeated assaults on other residents, which resulted in at least one hospitalization, state records show. (Read more from “VA Cuts off Van Nuys Assisted Living Home That Reported Visit to Veteran Who Had Died” HERE)

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Federal Court Allows First-Ever Class-Action Suit Against VA

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A federal court for the first time will allow a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs to move ahead, a move that legal experts said opens the doors for a host of similar cases against the bureaucracy.

The decision, which could affect thousands of veterans, came late last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Last August, the same court for the first time ruled that class-action lawsuits would be allowed against VA in “appropriate cases,” but no such claims met court standards until now.

This case — Godsey v. Wilkie — sought relief for veterans facing lengthy waits for the department to certify their disability benefits appeals claims. The case was originally filed in 2017 on behalf of four veterans facing lengthy delays, but lawyers argued it should be broadened to include an entire class of individuals waiting for their benefits. . .

“(The court’s) order certifying a class action for the first time in its 30-year history is a landmark moment, and will help ensure that our veterans and their families have more access to the justice they deserve,” said Bart Stichman, executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, which has helped oversee the case. “It has been a long time coming.”

Legal advocates for years have pushed the courts to overturn a long-held ban on class-action lawsuits against the department, arguing it effectively allows VA officials to push off systemic corrections by addressing only complaints from individual veterans. (Read more from “Federal Court Allows First-Ever Class-Action Suit Against VA” HERE)

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VA Hired Doctors With Malpractice Claims, Felony Convictions Against Them

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Neurosurgeon John Henry Schneider racked up more than a dozen malpractice claims and settlements in two states, including cases alleging he made surgical mistakes that left patients maimed, paralyzed or dead.

He was accused of costing one patient bladder and bowel control after placing spinal screws incorrectly, he allegedly left another paralyzed from the waist down after placing a device improperly in his spinal canal. The state of Wyoming revoked his medical license after another surgical patient died.

Schneider then applied for a job earlier this year at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Iowa City, Iowa. He was forthright in his application about the license revocation and other malpractice troubles.

But the VA hired him anyway . . .

A VA hospital in Oklahoma knowingly hired a psychiatrist previously sanctioned for sexual misconduct who went on to sleep with a VA patient, according to internal documents. A Louisiana VA clinic hired a psychologist with felony convictions. The VA ended up firing him after they determined he was a “direct threat to others” and the VA’s mission. (Read more from “VA Hired Doctors With Malpractice Claims, Felony Convictions Against Them” HERE)

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Trump Praised for Improving Vet Services

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As America pauses for Veterans Day this weekend, a leading advocate for improving the VA system that cares for those who have served this nation in uniform says the VA system has made made some important improvements in the first year of the Trump administration but she says some badly needed reforms are happening far too slowly.

Jessie Jane Duff served as a gunnery sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. She is now a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research. She gives the Trump administration a ‘B’ grade thus far in improving the health care system for veterans.

Duff says Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has made progress on some bureaucratic issues, including closing down 430 vacant buildings around the nation and another 284 that were underutilized.

“That can save $23 million a year. That money can now be going to health care or receiving mental health care for these veterans,” said Duff . . .

“They have improved same-day services for primary and mental health care at all of their medical centers. They’re making it easier for veterans to file online health care applications. They’re receiving eight times as many online applications this year. That’s good,” said Duff. (Read more from “Trump Praised for Improving Vet Services” HERE)

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Botched Surgery, Delayed Diagnosis at a One-Star ‘House of Horrors’ VA Hospital

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A veteran with diabetes and poor circulation checked into the Memphis VA Medical Center for a scan and possible repair of blood vessels in his right leg last year, but he ended up with a piece of plastic packaging that VA providers had mistakenly embedded in a critical artery.

Doctors didn’t discover the 10 inches of tubing — used by manufacturers to protect catheters during shipping and handling — until the veteran had to have the leg amputated three weeks later.

When they cut into his leg, they found a 3-inch segment, and after the procedure, they found another 7 inches in the amputated limb.

The error is one of a litany of patient safety issues at the Memphis hospital in recent years chronicled in a trove of internal documents obtained by the USA TODAY Network that provide a revealing glimpse of one of the worst of 168 VA hospitals in the country.

The hospital is one of only four on which the VA’s top health official, acting Under Secretary for Health Poonam Alaigh, requested weekly briefings, according to the documents. (Read more from “Botched Surgery, Delayed Diagnosis at a One-Star ‘House of Horrors’ va Hospital” HERE)

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Widow Wants Answers After Marine Vet Husband Overdoses In VA Care

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The wife of a deceased Marine veteran wants answers as to how her husband managed to overdose while in the care of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

After Marine Corps veteran Hank Brandon Lee overdosed on the synthetic painkiller drug fentanyl and was found unresponsive, the Brockton VA medical center called Jamie-Lee Hasted, Lee’s Widow, and informed her of the disastrous news on March 4.

Lee, the father of three kids, was staying at the facility’s psychiatric unit due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

The VA has no idea how he acquired the fentanyl, but for Jamie-Lee Hasted, Lee’s widow, that answer simply isn’t good enough, The Enterprise reports.

“They promised me this wouldn’t happen. I understand the issue, but he was on lockdown, and they’re supposed to protect him from harming others and from harming himself,” Hasted told The Enterprise on Saturday. “They made me believe that’s what they were going to do, and they didn’t.” (Read more from “Widow Wants Answers After Marine Vet Husband Overdoses in VA Care” HERE)

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