Crapo, Risch Vote to Block Admin from Empowering the VA to Perform Illegal Abortions

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senators Mike Crapo and  Jim Risch (both R-Idaho) voted today to prevent the Biden administration from implementing a rule that would allow the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to illegally provide abortion services through the taxpayer-funded VA health care system. 

The vote was on a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval.  The CRA gives Congress the authority to review major rules issued by federal agencies before they take effect. If Congress disapproves of a rule via resolution, the rule will have no force or effect under the law.

Senators Risch and Crapo, with Senator Tuberville (R-Ala.), introduced this CRA in February.

“The Supreme Court has ruled it is the states’ ability to protect the right to life," said Crapo.  "This rule is another example of the Biden Administration’s federal overreach to advance its abortion agenda. My commitment to protecting the rights of the unborn remains unchanged, and this thinly-veiled workaround the law wrongly forces taxpayers to fund abortion in a time when our national debt continues to grow at an unprecedented rate."

“The VA is supposed to provide care for America’s heroes. It is not supposed to provide abortions—in fact, it is illegal for the VA to do so,” said Risch.  “The Biden administration cannot and should not enable the VA to implement this deadly rule. I will do everything in my power to protect the unborn, including fighting this administration each step of the way in their abortion agenda.”

The VA published the interim final rule in September 2022, just a few months after the Supreme Court issued its decision to reverse  Roe v. Wade and return the decision to legislate on abortion to the American people through their state legislatures. Not only does the rule set up VA medical facilities to blatantly violate state laws, it’s also in clear conflict with  Section 106 of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, which explicitly prohibits the VA from providing abortion services. Notably, the rule also extends abortion services to certain veterans’ dependents and fails to provide any protections for VA medical staff.