After Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade, the Biden administration had limited options, but the Democratic White House made a difference where it could. In fact, soon after the high court’s Dobbs ruling, the Biden administration created a policy to allow veterans to get abortions at Veterans Affairs hospitals — even in red states where reproductive rights had been dramatically curtailed, if not eliminated altogether.
At the time, VA officials said those abortion bans had created “urgent risks” to pregnant veterans, necessitating an “essential” policy change.
As The Washington Post reported, Donald Trump and his team are undoing what Joe Biden and his team did for veterans.
Pregnant veterans would no longer be allowed to receive abortions at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy threatens their health under a proposed rule from the Trump administration that would revoke a Biden-era policy expanding abortion access. … In its filing Friday, the Trump administration called the 2022 rule change ‘inappropriate’ and ‘legally questionable.’
The Post spoke to Lindsay Church, executive director of Minority Veterans of America, which opposes the change, who expressed concern about the implications of the newly proposed policy.
“If you were a veteran, what would you choose?” Church said. “I wouldn’t choose the institution that told me that I absolutely have to be dying. I would go anywhere else.”
Obviously, this is a story about abortion rights and who’ll have an opportunity to terminate unwanted or dangerous pregnancies; but stepping back, it’s just as important to acknowledge what else this is: an example of the Trump administration cutting a health care benefit for veterans. In fairness, it’s worth noting that veterans who are undergoing miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies would still be able to receive care at VA facilities — but that’s it. “Our servicewomen risk everything to serve our country. We must in turn provide them the health care and services they earned throughout their lifetime — including comprehensive reproductive health care,” Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico said in a statement. The chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus added, “The Trump administration’s latest push to take away abortion care for veterans is wrong and a betrayal of that service and dedication.” Looking ahead, the Republican administration’s proposed policy change has not yet taken effect, and the public comment period will be open until early September. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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