Democrats mount a long-shot legislative bid to overturn the VA’s new abortion ban

In response to the Department of Veterans Affairs abruptly implementing a ban last month on providing abortion services to veterans and their dependents, congressional Democrats are pursuing a long-shot legislative maneuver to reverse the policy, according to information first shared with MS NOW.

Members of the Veterans Affairs committees in the House and Senate plan to introduce Congressional Review Act resolutions to overturn the ban — a move that’s unlikely to succeed but could force votes on a new VA policy that prohibits abortion coverage in the limited cases of rape, incest or when a pregnancy endangers the mother’s health.

The CRA allows Congress to overturn certain federal agency rules. Since its enactment in 1996, Congress has successfully nullified 20 rules. But because CRA resolutions must pass both the House and Senate — both of which Republicans control — the legislation is unlikely to go anywhere. If it somehow did, the measure would still need President Donald Trump’s signature — yet another unlikely scenario, even though Trump has previously said he supports abortion in those limited cases.

But Democrats say adoption of the CRA isn’t exactly the point.

Instead, they argue, the resolutions would put Republicans on the record about abortion access — particularly in these most dire circumstances — while giving Democrats an opportunity to oppose the GOP’s mounting efforts to restrict abortion access nationwide.

“If my Republican colleagues really believe in protecting women veterans who have been raped or whose health is at risk, they can prove it — simply support this resolution,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

“If the Trump administration thought they could quietly implement this extreme abortion ban and get away with it, they thought wrong — we won’t stop being loud about this,” added Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a co-sponsor of the resolution who also serves on the committee.

On the House side, Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., who is the ranking member for the health subcommittee on the House Veterans’ Affairs panel, is leading the resolution with Rep. Mark Takano of California, the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

An aide for the Senate committee said senators will use a discharge petition to bring the resolution directly to the floor for a vote. Senate discharge petitions only require 30 signatures. But a similar tactic in the House requires 218 signatures — a majority of the House — meaning that a vote in that chamber is unlikely unless Republican leaders bring it to the floor.

The earliest the Senate could vote on the discharge petition is late next week, because of a rule that requires a 20-day delay between when the rule is formally submitted to Congress and the vote. The rule was formally submitted on Jan. 15, the aide for the Senate committee said. 

The Trump administration first signaled in August its intention to roll back the Biden-era rule that allowed the VA to provide limited abortion counseling and services. Last month, VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz confirmed to MS NOW that the department had officially stopped providing those services after a Dec. 18 memo from the Department of Justice that concluded the Biden rule was not legally sound. 

The VA’s compliance with that DOJ memo meant the ban took effect far earlier than expected. Under the normal regulatory timeline, the policy would not have been implemented until 30 days after the final rule was published on Dec. 31 — a deadline that falls this Friday.

Abortion rights advocates slammed the news of the ban, while abortion opponents praised it and cast the Biden administration’s rule as a matter of federal overreach.

Republicans used a CRA in 2023 to unsuccessfully try to overturn Biden’s rule to allow the VA to provide abortion services. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, bucked their party to vote to keep the rule. 

Women are the fastest-growing segment of the veteran population, with more than 2 million female veterans living in the United States, according to VA data. Almost 500,000 female veterans of reproductive age are enrolled in VA health care plans, with more than 112,000 enrolled in CHAMPVA, the program for dependents, according to VA data shared with the Senate committee. More than half of those enrollees live in states that have abortion bans or significant restrictions in place.

The CRA resolution is endorsed by more than a dozen veterans’ and reproductive rights groups, including Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Reproductive Freedom for All and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

“Abortion care and counseling are not simply about choice, they are matters of health, human rights and survival,” said Lindsay Church, the executive director of Minority Veterans of America. “Preserving access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care is essential to honoring the service, sacrifices and dignity of women and minority veterans.”

Spokespeople for the White House, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., did not immediately respond to requests for comment from MS NOW.