Pro-Life states are gearing up for a lawsuit against the Biden administration after Joe Biden finalized a plan to turn VA hospitals into abortion clinics.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it plans to kill babies in abortions in cases of rape or incest or in cases where the mother’s life or health is in danger, even though doctors repeatedly say abortions are never medically necessary.
But, states like Alabama and Arkansas will likely be leading the way in defending their abortion bans from the federal government usurping them by authorizing VA hospitals to sell dangerous abortion drugs or do surgical abortions ending the lives of unborn children.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said last week he would enforce his state’s abortion ban, which outlaws all abortions except in cases that threaten the life of the pregnant person, against any practitioner who violates it. “I have no intention of abdicating my duty to enforce the Unborn Life Protection Act against any practitioner who unlawfully conducts abortions in the State of Alabama,” he said in a statement. “The power of states to protect unborn life is settled.”
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, whose state abortion ban also only allows for abortions in life-threatening cases, similarly told TIME she would enforce her ban despite the VA policy. “I stand ready to challenge the Biden Administration for trying to circumvent Arkansas law,” Rutledge said in a statement.
Biden’s move is already a violation of federal law that prohibits the taxpayer-funded VA medical centers from doing abortions but it also violates the Dobbs decision, whereby the Supreme Court gave states the ability to protect babies from abortions.
During a Congressional hearing yesterday, a Biden official said the illegal plan will have VA clinics distributing the dangerous abortion pill that has killed dozens of women and injured thousands — and likely more but the federal government stopped counting the number of deaths and injuries to women.
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Medication abortions will be the first type of abortions offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs, said Dr. Shereef Elnahal, the under secretary of health for the VA.
Elnahal said that the VA was concerned about restrictions on women’s health care and abortions following the overturning of Roe v. Wade during the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing Thursday.
“We could simply not contend with that environment of safety for veterans,” Elnahal said. “If these veterans are under our care, and we know that we can save their lives, we have to do it.”
He said federal employees who perform abortions at VA sites will be protected, even if they are working in states that ban the procedures.
Responding to the plan, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Montana) said he’s glad that Alabama and possible other states will file suit against it.
Although VA officials claim many of the abortions will be to save the life of the mother or in difficult medical circumstances, the VA will start with abortion drugs that are virtually never used in such cases and are almost always done for an elective abortion merely to kill the baby. As many as 1,000 babies or more will be killed in abortions whereas requests for abortion in medical emergencies are very rare.
Dr. Amanda Johnson, the VA’s director of women’s reproductive health, said the VA estimated that roughly 1,000 abortions will be now given out each year, with the majority being medication abortions.
The VA reported 10-12 women annually have previously received emergency care when a pregnancy threatens their health each year, but several lawmakers pointed out that the VA excluded abortions and abortion counseling from their benefits package without exception prior to this rule change.
Biden’s move to expand abortion on demand through the Department of Veteran Affairs breaks federal law. It is in violation of Section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 which specifically prohibits the VA from providing abortion.
“The Biden Administration is once again pushing taxpayer funding of abortion on demand,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “Abortion is not health care, and this rule is in clear violation of existing law.”
“Despite current federal law and regulations, the Biden Administration has made every effort to promote and pay for abortion on demand using taxpayer money,” stated Tobias. “On the issue of abortion, President Biden has demanded a radical ‘whole of government’ response.”
Senator James Lankford, a pro-life Republican from Oklahoma, says the move is illegal and previously sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Denis McDonough to share his concerns. Specifically, Biden’s move is illegal under federal law.
Section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 prohibits the VA from providing abortions.
Lankford warns in his letter, “Only Congress can change federal law, and Congress has held for the past 30 years that the VA is not permitted to offer abortion services… Abortion is not and will never be healthcare. Healthcare protects life. Abortion takes life. Instead of promoting the taking of human life, I would challenge you, and others within the VA, to respect the dignity of our veterans and all of their family members, including unborn children, by ensuring services provided and funded by the VA are focused on true healthcare consistent with federal law.”
Under Biden’s proposal, babies will be killed in abortions in cases of rape or incest merely on the word of the woman seeking the abortion, without any report to law enforcement in order to apprehend the rapist or proof that rape or incest had occurred.
Multiple polls over the years show Americans oppose taxpayer-funded abortions, and most recently a January 2022 Marist poll found that a majority of Americans — 54% — oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.
Leading pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life slammed the decision and reiterated that it is illegal, in violation of both federal and state laws. It also noted that McDonough failed to respond Lankford’s letter.
“Shame on Secretary McDonough for caving to Biden and the radical abortion lobby’s demands to violate state and federal law regarding abortion. Abortion is not health care – in fact it carries serious physical and mental health risks – and expanding abortion on demand into the VA is illegal, period,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “This is the latest egregious example of the pro-abortion extremism that has taken over the Democratic Party. Biden himself used to agree taxpayers should never be forced to fund the destruction of innocent life. Now he is head of the most pro-abortion administration in history. There is no law they won’t rewrite or institution they won’t destroy in their drive to impose abortion without limits – even late-term abortions well after unborn children can feel pain – up to the moment of birth, paid for by taxpayers, nationwide.
She told LifeNews: “Democrats’ pro-abortion extremism is wildly out of step with the majority of Americans. We will expose them and hold them accountable at the ballot box.”
