Senate Republicans’ Effort to Repeal VA Abortion Policy Fails
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The Senate struck down a Republican resolution on Wednesday that would have repealed a rule from the Biden administration that forces the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide abortions.
The resolution failed in a 48 to 51 vote. It had been introduced by Senator Thomas Tuberville (R., Ala.) in February and was sponsored by 34 Republicans, as well as Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.).
In September, the Biden administration issued a rule to remove the prior exclusion of abortion under the VA’s medical services. The rule came just three months after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, leaving Democrats searching for new ways to increase abortion access.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) amends its medical regulations to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and establish exceptions to the exclusion on abortions in the medical benefits package for veterans who receive care set forth in that package, and to remove the exclusion on abortion counseling and expand the exceptions to the exclusion on abortions for Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) beneficiaries,” the Biden admin’s update read.
Tuberville argued ahead of the vote that taxpayers should not be forced to pay for abortions.
“We’re going to vote to overturn it because it is illegal, it is wrong, and it abuses taxpayer dollars,” Tuberville said at a press conference ahead of the vote. “In September, the VA announced they were going to start performing abortions. The VA had never done abortions before.”
“Congress banned abortion at the VA 30 years ago. It was unanimous. One of the senators who voted for that bill was Joe Biden,” Tuberville added. “We have never repealed this law. It is still on the books, and the administration needs to follow it. The administration doesn’t get to change the law without a vote in Congress.”
Manchin said that while he believes abortion is a personal decision, tax dollars should not go toward funding abortions.
“The Hyde Amendment was that protection. It was that buffering that we weren’t forcing your dollars to be used for an abortion that you deeply, deeply disbelieved in,” Manchin said at the press conference.
“If this has to be changed, it should be voted upon. If the legislation that the president wants to do and this administration, then bring it before in a piece of legislation, and let’s go through the process,” he added.
On Wednesday, VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said that the department is “committed to providing” abortions.
“As VA Secretary Denis McDonough has said, ‘Pregnant Veterans and VA beneficiaries deserve to have access to medically necessary world-class reproductive care when they need it most,’” Hayes said. “That’s what our nation owes them, and that’s what we at VA will deliver.”
