The Trump administration has reversed the Biden-era guidance requiring the Veterans Administration to provide abortions, arguing that the directive violated congressional restrictions on using taxpayer dollars to fund elective pregnancy termination.
The agency said Tuesday that it barred abortion services after receiving a Department of Justice memorandum dated Dec. 18, which concluded that the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs expressly excludes services including abortion and infertility treatments.
“DOJ’s opinion states that VA is not legally authorized to provide abortions, and VA is complying with it immediately,” said VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz in an email. “DOJ’s opinion is consistent with VA’s proposed rule, which continues to work its way through the regulatory process.”
The memorandum authored by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock said it replaces the department’s 2022 opinion, which provided legal cover for the Biden administration’s rulemaking authorizing the agency to perform abortions in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life or health of the mother.
The VA may still provide “care to pregnant women in life-threatening circumstances, including treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages,” according to Mr. Craddock’s memo.
House Democrats accused the Trump administration of “ripping away access to healthcare from thousands of veterans.”
“This legally suspect policy decision reverses previous steps taken by VA under the Biden administration to ensure veterans received full access to a range of reproductive healthcare,” Democrats on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs said in a statement.
More than 230 House and Senate Democrats submitted a public comment in September blasting the proposed rule, which would reinstate the agency’s abortion policy prior to the 2022 regulatory change.
Bravo! DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel issues opinion holding that Department of Veteran Affairs may not provide abortion services. Opinion rejects Biden OLC opinion from 2022, which contained “legal errors” and “was conspicuously shallow in its attention to the text and scope” of…
— Ed Whelan (@EdWhelanEPPC) December 22, 2025
Meanwhile, pro-life advocates praised the Trump administration’s decision to roll back the 2022 regulatory change ahead of the final rulemaking.
“We commend the DOJ for taking bold steps toward protecting religious freedom for those within the VA by ensuring that health care providers will not be forced to provide abortion services,” said Chris Motz, senior counsel for the First Liberty Institute.
“VA doctors and nurses heroically care for our nation’s veterans — they shouldn’t be forced to perform no-limit abortions against their religious beliefs,” he said in a Tuesday statement.
