By Tyler Arnold
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 1, 2025 /
16:19 pm
President Donald Trump’s administration is proposing a rule change that would prohibit medical centers operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from performing both surgical and chemical abortions in most cases and from providing counseling that encourages abortion.
The proposed regulatory change, submitted by the VA on Aug. 1, must undergo a 30-day public comment period before it can be adopted.
Under the proposal, abortion would only be allowed when the mother’s life is at risk. The text also clarifies that women can still receive all necessary treatments for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.
In an explanation provided with the rule change proposal, VA regulators note that Congress created the department to provide “only needed medical services to our nation’s heroes and their families.” It states that unless the mother’s life is at risk, “abortion is not a ‘needed’ VA service.”
From 1999 — when the VA established its first medical benefits package — through September 2022, the department did not offer abortion or pro-abortion counseling. It was not until after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to restrict abortion that President Joe Biden’s administration changed the regulation to permit broad abortion coverage at the VA.
The Biden-era rule permits the VA to perform abortions if “the life or the health” of the woman is endangered by the pregnancy, which broadly extends to both physical and mental health. The new Trump administration proposed rule would create a more strict standard, only permitting abortion “when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term.”
Under the Biden-era rule, the VA can also perform abortions in cases of rape and incest, which are self-reported and not verified. The Trump administration’s proposed rule change would not permit the VA to perform abortions in these instances.
The VA’s explanation of the proposed rule change notes that prior to the Biden administration’s shift, the VA “had consistently interpreted abortion services as not ‘needed’ medical services and therefore not covered by the medical benefits package.” It states that the Biden-era rule is “legally questionable.”
“This proposed rule restores VA to its proper role as the United States’ provider of needed medical services to those who served, delivered on behalf of a grateful nation,” the explanation reads.
A spokesperson for the VA said in a statement provided to CNA that the prior administration’s shift was “politically motivated” and that “federal law and long-standing precedent across Democrat and Republican administrations prevented VA from providing abortions and abortion counseling.”
“[The] VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norms,” the spokesperson added.
When the Biden administration adopted the rule to expand abortions at the VA, the archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, Timothy P. Broglio, condemned the rule as “morally repugnant and incongruent with the Gospel.”
“I implore the faithful of this archdiocese to continue to advocate for human life and to refuse any participation in the evil of abortion,” Broglio said at the time.
Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency, based in EWTN News’ Washington Bureau. He previously worked at The Center Square and has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.
