The Trump administration has quietly banned the Department of Veterans Affairs from providing abortion services to veterans and their dependents, including those who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
The ban followed a memo authored by Joshua Craddock, deputy assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued Dec. 18 that concluded the VA may not provide abortion services under any provision of the law.
The memo revoked a Biden-era OLC opinion that allowed the VA to provide limited abortion counseling and services to pregnant veterans and their beneficiaries.
The Biden policy allowed abortions for those who became pregnant as a result of rape or incest, or if a pregnancy endangered the "life and health" of the person seeking an abortion.
According to screenshots of an internal VA memo dated Monday and sent to the leaders of the VA's 18 regional integrated service networks that were shared with The Hill, the agency "must comply" with the Dec. 18 memo and that "effective immediately" the VA will no longer provide abortion or abortion counseling.
The memo also states that the changes in abortion policy "do not prohibit providing care to pregnant women in life-threatening circumstances, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages."
It specifies that the abortion ban "does not bar care necessary to save a veteran's life when the veteran's clinician determines that care is necessary."
The exception for life-saving care echoes language in many state abortion bans. Medical and legal experts have said that in practice, the exceptions are in language only because emergency doctors can be too afraid of running afoul of state laws to provide needed care.
In the proposed rule, the Trump administration argued that "as a matter of law, it is without question that VA has the authority to bar provision of abortion services through the VA medical benefits package to veterans."
The Trump-led VA accused the Biden administration of using the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision to create a "purported federal entitlement to abortion for veterans where none had existed before and without regard to state law."
The agency also said the Biden administration predicted a high demand for VA abortions that never materialized.
This latest change comes before the VA has even finalized a regulation that would ban abortion coverage and counseling. The proposal was released in August and the final version is expected any day.
"DOJ's opinion states that VA is not legally authorized to provide abortions, and VA is complying with it immediately," VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz said in a statement to The Hill.
"DOJ's opinion is consistent with VA's proposed rule, which continues to work its way through the regulatory process," Kasperowicz added.
He did not answer questions about why the agency needed a separate memo in addition to the regulation. But rules take time to implement through the regulatory system, while the VA immediately complied with the memo.
After the proposed rule was released, it received more than 24,000 comments. A final rule has yet to be released. When it is, there will likely be a 30-day implementation period before it takes effect.
Abortion advocates slammed the new policy as an insult to veterans.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said the abortion ban "is callous and inhumane.""Veterans deserve dignity and respect that includes the freedom to make their own health care decisions," Perryman said.
"Veterans risked their lives to defend our safety and freedom - and now the Trump Administration is taking away theirs," said Nancy Northup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights. "President Trump said he would leave abortion to the states, but he continues to seize new opportunities to restrict it nationally."