Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and several colleagues in a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) urging the agency to take immediate action to offer abortions and all abortion-related services to veterans and eligible dependents. Over 800,000 of the nation’s women veterans, who represent half of all women in the Armed Forces, live in states that are certain or likely to ban abortions following the Supreme Court’s harmful decision in Dobbs overturning Roe v. Wade.
“Last month’s disastrous Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the nearly fifty-year precedent established by Roe v. Wade and removed constitutional protection for abortion access from millions of individuals in this country, including an ever-growing number of veterans and dependents who are able to become pregnant,” wrote Bennet, Hickenlooper, and the senators. “This decision makes it even more critical that veterans receive access to the reproductive care to which they are entitled. Thus, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must urgently begin rulemaking to allow veterans and eligible dependents to receive abortions and all abortion-related services.”
Under current VA regulations, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is prohibited from providing abortions and abortion counseling as part of the medical benefits package. In the letter sent to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, Bennet and Hickenlooper highlight the VA’s statutory authority to provide abortions and urge the VA to immediately begin a rulemaking process to change the current regulations by updating the VHA’s medical benefits package to provide abortion and abortion-related services. The letter highlights that Secretary McDonough also recently expressed that the VA has the statutory authority to provide abortions.
Bennet, Hickenlooper, and the senators continued: “We contend that the VA has the statutory authority and discretion to provide abortions and abortion-related services and resources. The VA’s authority to provide care to veterans is established in the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996. That statute provides that the VA Secretary ‘shall furnish hospital care and medical services which the Secretary determines to be needed’ to certain veterans. Importantly, the VA has used its authority under the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 to provide reproductive care such as pregnancy care and infertility services, even though such care was initially excluded from the health care packages allowed under the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992.”
In addition to Bennet, Hickenlooper, Hirono, and Warren, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Bennet remains committed to protecting reproductive rights. Earlier this month, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined their Democratic colleagues in introducing legislation to protect the right of individuals to cross state lines for reproductive health care. Bennet and Hickenlooper spoke on the Senate floor in support of this effort.
Bennet and Hickenlooper also introduced legislation to protect and improve access to critical reproductive health care services such as birth control, cancer screenings, and other treatments by providing a strong and consistent funding source for the Title X Family Planning Program. Bennet and U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) recently called on the Biden Administration to update the Privacy Rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect the privacy of patients who receive abortions from law enforcement agencies. In June, Bennet and Hickenlooper joined their colleagues in urging the Department of Defense (DoD) to take immediate steps to support and protect service members seeking abortion services following the Supreme Court’s dangerous and deeply harmful decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Bennet and Hickenlooper also joined their colleagues to push President Joe Biden to pursue “bold action” to protect the right to abortion.
The text of the letter is available HERE and below:
Dear Secretary McDonough,
Last month’s disastrous Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the nearly fifty-year precedent established by Roe v. Wade and removed constitutional protection for abortion access from millions of individuals in this country, including an ever-growing number of veterans and dependents who are able to become pregnant. This decision makes it even more critical that veterans receive access to the reproductive care to which they are entitled. Thus, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must urgently begin rulemaking to allow veterans and eligible dependents to receive abortions and all abortion-related services.
Current regulations of the VA prohibit the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) from providing abortions and abortion counseling as part of the medical benefits package. Additionally, CHAMPVA, the VA’s insurance program for certain dependents and survivors of veterans, does not cover abortion services, unless the life of the mother is endangered.
We contend that the VA has the statutory authority and discretion to provide abortions and abortion-related services and resources. The VA’s authority to provide care to veterans is established in the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996. That statute provides that the VA Secretary “shall furnish hospital care and medical services which the Secretary determines to be needed” to certain veterans. Importantly, the VA has used its authority under the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 to provide reproductive care such as pregnancy care and infertility services, even though such care was initially excluded from the health care packages allowed under the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992.
Moreover, we agree with your testimony to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee stating that the VA has the power to offer abortion services and abortion counseling “as a regulatory matter.” As you explained last week, “[i]t is a long-held view of the VA general counsel that [the Department is] not statutorily prohibited from providing abortion counseling or abortion services.”
Finally, the VA has the authority to “provide medical care” to the dependents and survivors of veterans through CHAMPVA “in the same or similar manner” to dependents and survivors of service members.
In FY 2020, approximately 550,000 women veterans used VA health care, and over 400,000 dependents and survivors accessed care through the CHAMPVA program. The VA must do everything in its power to provide critical reproductive care to veterans and their dependents across the country.
We call on you to take swift and decisive action to ensure all of our veterans and CHAMPVA beneficiaries can access abortions and all abortion-related services.
Sincerely,