Overview

• VA leaders filed an interim rule on August 4 ending in-house abortion services at VA medical centers, with the department enforcing the change internally as it undergoes public comment.
• The rule reinstates a 1999 policy that excludes abortion and abortion counseling from taxpayer-funded VA benefits except in life-threatening cases.
• Public feedback on the interim rule is open through September 5 before the policy can be finalized.
• House Republicans praised the rollback as a return to bipartisan norms, while Democrats and advocacy groups condemned it as stripping veterans of reproductive autonomy.
• The move follows the VA’s March 2025 end to gender-affirming care and affects roughly 100 veterans and 40 CHAMPVA beneficiaries who used VA abortion services annually.