The Trump administration advanced its goal to eliminate taxpayer-funded abortion this week when it proposed ditching a Biden administration-era rule that forced taxpayers to subsidize veterans’ abortions.
One of President Donald Trump’s first actions in his second term was prohibiting Americans’ hard-earned dollars from going to organizations that lobby for, perform, or encourage abortions in other countries. The reinstatement of President Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy brought the U.S. back up to speed with Americans’ majority opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions — especially overseas.
Now, six months into the Trump administration’s return, the Department of Veteran Affairs proposed a rule to rescind a 2022 policy that lumped abortions and “abortion counseling” into veterans’ taxpayer-funded medical benefits package.
“We believe the 2022 interim final rule was not only inappropriate as a matter of fact but also was legally questionable,” the August 4th notice posted to the federal register states.
As the proposed rule notes, “the regulatory determination that abortion is not a ‘needed’ service for veterans was accepted by every Secretary and Presidential administration for over 20 years.” It wasn’t until the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling in 2022 that the Biden administration saw an opportunity to advance its abortion agenda through the VA.
“But this conclusion contradicted decades of Federal policy against forced taxpayer funding for abortion,” the proposed rule continues.