The VA is Currently Funding Abortions on Demand, With No Limits
Senate Republicans recently attempted and failed to change a rule that effectively allows the VA to provide unrestricted abortions
The Biden administration’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been effectively funding abortions up to birth for any reason since September 2022, something which Senate Republicans recently sought to change but to no avail.
LifeNews explains that thanks to an interim rule issued by the Biden administration, the VA may now use a problematically vague definition of “health” to determine when abortions may be provided by the taxpayer-funded agency.
The definition is based on the Supreme Court Ruling Doe v Balton, which was a companion case to the now-overturned Roe v Wade, that defined “health” as “medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age—relevant to the wellbeing of the patient. All these factors may relate to health.”
As the VA is using this definition to determine when it may perform abortions, this virtually means abortions may be performed on-demand, for any reason at the discretion of a doctor.
Terrifying.
What’s more, taxpayer-funded abortions have long been illegal in the United States in most cases (something which Biden-era Democrats have pointedly sought to change) thanks to the Hyde Amendment, so as LifeNews notes, the practice also appears to be illegal.
Senate Republican Tommy Tuberville recently championed efforts to change the dubious legal rule, using the Congressional Review Act to bring the issue to a vote without needing the approval of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
His resolution, however, failed narrowly 48-51, with pro-abortion Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) joining nearly every Democrat to vote against, with Joe Manchin (WV) making the lone exception to vote with the GOP.
Townhall reported that Tuberville wrote to the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough to express that he is “deeply concerned about implementation of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) interim final rule (IFR) on abortion services, published on September 9, 2022” and yet has “not received answers” to any of the questions he has aimed at the department since last year.