Blumenthal Slams VA's Move to Stop Life-Saving Abortions to Veterans

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today released a statement slamming the Trump Administration’s Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) move to stop providing abortion care to veterans who have been raped or whose pregnancy is threatening their health.

“The government should not be able to impose a pregnancy on anyone— least of all survivors of rape, abuse, or those whose health is at risk. Current VA policy guarantees that, at the very least, veterans who are raped or who could die without an abortion can get the care they need. It is disgusting and dangerous that the Trump Administration will strip VA’s ability to provide essential health care to veterans in these harrowing situations. It is a harmful and reckless move that reneges on the Department’s promise to provide every veteran the health care they earned and deserve. We cannot let VA stop providing this care to veterans by ripping away this narrow, targeted protection. I will be fighting as hard and long as possible to reverse this cruel, dangerous new policy.”

In September 2022, VA began to offer abortion counseling to all pregnant veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries, and abortion in cases of rape, incest, or the life or health of the veteran or CHAMPVA beneficiary. This was in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling creating urgent risks to the lives and health of pregnant veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries in states that have banned or otherwise severely restricted access to abortion.

More than 462,000 women veterans of reproductive age are enrolled in VA health care. More than half of these women live in states that have enacted abortion bans or restrictions.

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