Senate Republicans' push to block abortions at VA hospitals fails
American taxpayers will continue to find themselves funding “unlimited abortion,” a pro-life group has warned after the United States Senate rejected a motion that would have nullified a Biden administration policy enabling the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to perform abortions in states where it's banned.
On Wednesday, the Democrat-controlled Senate rejected a motion that would have expressed disapproval of a rule submitted to the Federal Register by the VA that allows taxpayer money to be used by the department to pay for abortions for veterans and service members in some cases. If passed, the motion would have declared that the rule, submitted to the Federal Register in September, “shall have no force or effect.”
The 48-51 vote to reject the motion fell largely along party lines, with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joining Democrats in opposing the resolution and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joining Republicans in supporting it.
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Carol Tobias, president of the pro-life group National Right to Life, condemned the vote, lamenting in a statement shared with The Christian Post that “The Biden administration once again pushes unlimited abortion with federal tax dollars. The day after Americans finalized and filed their taxes, with some paying a tax bill with hard-earned funds, Democrats voted to continue to send those monies to support unlimited abortion at the VA.”
The rule in question, submitted to the Federal Register in September, will allow hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs to perform abortions in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is at risk. The rule applies in all 50 states, including those where abortion has become illegal following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.
Critics of the rule contend that it violates federal law. Specifically, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wrote a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough informing him that Section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 authorizes the agency to provide “general reproductive healthcare, including the management of menopause, but not including under this section infertility services, abortions, or pregnancy care.”
For its part, the VA disagrees with Lankford’s analysis. The text of the rule states that “When that law was enacted in 1992, prior to the 1996 enactment of the Veterans’ Health Care Eligibility Reform Act, VA health care was subject to a patchwork of eligibility criteria, and care was largely linked only to service-connected conditions.”
“Section 106 did not limit VA’s authority to provide care under any other provision of law,” the rule added. “The ‘but not including’ language in Section 106 of the VHCA limited only the services provided ‘under this section,’ meaning that while section 106 barred the provision of any abortion or infertility service under section 106 of the VHCA, it did not limit VA’s authority to provide such services under any other statutory provision.”
The Biden administration’s rule allowing abortions to take place at VA hospitals is part of the administration’s efforts to ensure access to abortion, as several states have banned the procedure following the Dobbs decision. According to data compiled by the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, 14 states have total or near-total bans on abortion: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Additionally, Iowa will soon have a six-week abortion ban in effect, while Arizona, Indiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah and Wyoming have total or near-total bans on abortion tied up in court. A 15-week abortion ban remains in effect in Florida as the remainder of the states have what the pro-life advocacy group characterizes as “few or no limits on abortion.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
