8.1.2025 (PRESS RELEASE) — Today, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) announced plans to no longer allow veterans to access abortion care or counseling through the VA health system, specifically including in instances of rape, incest, or to save the health of the pregnant person. While veterans were previously allowed to access abortion care in specific circumstances, this policy eliminates those exceptions apart from a narrow exception to save the life of a pregnant veteran. These kinds of exceptions to save a person’s life often don’t work in reality.

This proposed rule change will apply to veterans receiving care through the VA living in all 50 states, including the 14 states with constitutional protections for abortion rights. This new policy would be one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, and for veterans living in the 12 states that ban abortion, it would further close off what may be their only opportunity to access urgently needed abortion care.

As a proposed rule, the policy will be open for public comment for 30 days, after which the administration will finalize the rule. Throughout this next month, the public — including health experts and veterans — can provide feedback on how this policy will endanger the health and lives of veterans.

“After veterans put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms, the Trump administration is trying to rob them of their own freedoms and putting their health at risk,” said Nancy Northup, President and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “This administration is sending a clear message to veterans—that their health and dignity aren’t worth defending. To devalue veterans in this way and take away life-changing health care would be unconscionable. This shows you just how extreme this administration’s anti-abortion stance is—they would rather a veteran suffer severely than receive an abortion.”

This rule change was ushered through by the White House Office of Management & Budget Director Russell Vought and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins—both adamantly anti-abortion—with Vought even opposing abortion if it is needed to save the life of a pregnant person. This marks the first major regulatory action by this administration to proactively take away abortion rights from a group of people nationwide, and a foreboding encroachment into states where abortion rights are protected.

Women are currently the fastest growing population of veterans, and removing these exceptions to the VA’s strict abortion ban will be devastating for pregnant veterans who need access to this care. More than two million women veterans live in the U.S. today, and more than 400,000 women veterans are estimated to live in states with total abortion bans or severe restrictions, meaning they may not be able to access abortion care—in case of emergency care or otherwise—at all. There are also thousands of transgender men as well as non-binary veterans who might need abortion care. Additionally, over 700,000 family members of veterans get their care from the VA.

The removal of the health, rape, and incest exceptions are particularly dangerous given the high rates of sexual assault in the military. One in three women veterans experienced military sexual trauma (MST), including sexual assault, during their military service, and research indicates that nearly 40% of homeless women veterans experienced MST while in the service. Many veterans also experience severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including from experiences related to sexual assault, and an unplanned pregnancy may exacerbate their PTSD and require abortion access to preserve their health or life. Last year, enrollment of women veterans in VA health care increased in every state, and four of the six most concentrated states were Texas, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina—all states with severe abortion bans.  

In 2022, immediately after the Dobbs decision overturned federal abortion protections under Roe v. Wade, the Biden-Harris Administration carved out exceptions to the VA’s complete abortion ban in certain situations. That rule also allowed VA clinicians to discuss abortion options or referrals with patients for the first time, a conversation that will be prohibited if the rule is finalized.

Pregnancy complications are not uncommon and it’s critical that everyone, regardless of pregnancy intentions or circumstances, be able to access the full range of reproductive health care services including abortion. Each year in the United States, about 700 people die during pregnancy or in the year after, and another 50,000 people each year have unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery with serious short- or long-term health consequences.

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