On August 1, the Trump Administration announced its plan to prevent veterans from accessing abortion care or counseling through the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) health system. While veterans could previously access abortion care in instances of rape, incest, or to save the health of the pregnant person, this new policy would ban abortions completely apart from a narrow exception to save the pregnant person’s life.

The VA is the country’s largest integrated health system, and women veterans of reproductive age are also the fastest growing subset of new VA users. Veterans already face unique and heightened health risks, and the ban would severely limit their access to essential care.  

“This administration is sending a clear message to veterans—that their health and dignity aren’t worth defending,” said Nancy Northup, President and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights. 

Here are five things to know about the proposed ban.  

Narrow exceptions

1. This would be one of the country’s strictest abortion bans. 

The proposed ban would keep veterans from getting abortion care or information through the VA—even in cases of rape, incest, or health emergencies. Though it technically includes a narrow exception for life-threatening situations, evidence shows these exceptions often don’t work. 

The removal of the rape exception is particularly striking given the high rates of sexual violence committed against women in the military. One in three women veterans report experiencing sexual trauma, including sexual assault, during their service. Among homeless women veterans, military sexual trauma rates are as high as 40%. Trump’s ban would add forced motherhood to the trauma of rape.  

Consequences for millions

2. It would impact abortion access for millions of Americans.  

There are over two million women veterans in the U.S., as well as thousands of transgender men and non-binary veterans who might need abortion care. The proposed ban would also impact the 700,000 family members of veterans eligible for care through the VA.  

These figures are continuing to rise. Last year, the number of women veterans enrolled in the VA increased in every state. Of the six states with the greatest increases, four of them—Texas, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina—have severe abortion bans. More than 400,000 women veterans live in abortion ban states.   

National impact

3. The ban would apply even in states where abortion is legal.  

If the ban passes, state law won’t be enough to protect abortion access through the VA. In the 14 states where abortion is a constitutional right, veterans will be subject to the same restrictions as everywhere else. Those in the 12 states that ban abortion will lose this last avenue to care. 

Threat to life-saving care

4. Banning health-saving care is the point.  

For Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget and one of the men behind the ban, even its single narrow exception is too much. Vought, who co-authored Project 2025, explicitly opposes life-saving abortion care.  

The ban’s other orchestrator, VA Secretary Doug Collins, consistently supported anti-abortion legislation as a member of Congress—including the 2019 Life at Conception Act, which tried to establish fetal personhood in federal law and ban abortion nationally.  

Warning sign

5. This is a warning sign of what’s to come. 

From the beginning, Trump has been taking incremental steps to restrict reproductive rights. He’s stacked his administration with anti-abortion extremists, slashed funding for reproductive health care, and gutted crucial public health programs.   

But this proposal marks an important first for the Administration: its first regulatory attempt to proactively take away abortion rights from people nationwide. The move sets a chilling precedent—and could be the beginning of a larger attack.