Congressional Republicans introduced a joint resolution Tuesday to stop a new Biden administration rule that would force VA hospitals to provide taxpayer-funded abortions even in states where killing unborn babies is illegal.
Fox News reports U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, led the effort, joined by more than 60 other Republican lawmakers.
“Using our VA medical facilities to provide publicly-funded abortions is an unconstitutional abuse of the system, and it will not be tolerated,” Tuberville said in a statement.“No taxpayer should be forced to pay for abortion services that disregard the will of millions of Americans in states with legal protections for life, rightfully upheld by the Supreme Court last year.”
The Alabama senator said Biden officials are ignoring the law and exploiting taxpayers’ money to further their extreme pro-abortion agenda.
On Sept. 9, President Joe Biden introduced a new rule to require Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals to provide taxpayer-funded abortions “regardless of state restrictions.”
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The Biden administration claims the rule only applies to abortions in “limited circumstances”: rape, incest and threats to the mother’s life or health. However, “health” can be broadly defined, and statements from department leaders suggest abortions will be allowed more broadly.
Soon afterward, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who led the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, and 14 other state attorneys general threatened to sue if the Biden administration follows through with the rule.
The U.S. Congressional resolution could stop the rule from ever going into effect. According to Fox News, “More than 60 members of Congress signed on to the resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which gives Congress the authority to review major rules issued by federal agencies before they take effect, potentially preventing them from being implemented.”
The resolution has the support of leading pro-life organizations, including SBA Pro-Life America, March for Life, National Right to Life, Catholic Vote, Heritage Action and Concerned Women for America.
Cloud, one of the lead sponsors, said lawmakers need to stand up for unborn babies.
“The Biden Administration continues to advance their radical abortion on demand agenda, this time through the Department of Veterans Affairs,” he said in a statement. “Directing the Department of Veterans Affairs to perform abortions is a clear abuse of the law and it forces taxpayers to fund abortions, something the majority of Americans oppose. I will always be a voice for the unborn and oppose taxpayer funded abortions.”
In December, a coalition of nearly 50 pro-life groups spearheaded by SBA Pro-Life America sent a letter to the U.S. House and Senate urging lawmakers to stop the pro-abortion rule. The groups, including LifeNews.com, expressed concern that a $71 million increase in taxpayer funding to the Office of Women’s Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs will be used illegally to fund abortions.
Since 1992, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been statutorily prohibited from using taxpayer dollars for abortions. The Biden administration rule ignores this long-standing ban.
Recently, a pro-life nurse and veteran also filed a lawsuit challenging the rule, saying she does not want to work at a hospital that kills unborn babies in abortions and could require her to assist in or promote abortions.
Americans strongly oppose their tax dollars being used to abort unborn babies. A new Marist poll found 60 percent of Americans oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the U.S., and 78 percent oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in other countries.
