165 House Democrats and All 47 Senate Democrats Back Legal Filing
More than 200 Democratic members of the US House and Senate filed an amicus brief Thursday in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit seeking to overturn the Trump administration's abortion ban at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The filing supports plaintiffs in Minority Veterans of America v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Implemented in 2025, the policy prohibits VA facilities nationwide from providing abortion care or counseling.
According to a press release issued Thursday by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Democrats and Senator Richard Blumenthal's office, the brief drew signatures from 165 Democratic US Representatives and all 47 Democratic US Senators.
In the brief, lawmakers argued the 2025 policy rests on an unlawful reading of statute and cited roughly 462,000 women veterans of reproductive age enrolled in VA healthcare, along with an estimated 112,000 women of reproductive age enrolled in the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA). The lawmakers added that the rule bars VA physicians from discussing a pregnant patient's full options or intervening in cases of rape, incest, or health endangerment.
The brief contends that the Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 grants the VA Secretary broad discretion to provide any medical services determined to be needed; lawmakers rejected the administration's reliance on the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 as justification for barring abortion services. In March, the Senate rejected Blumenthal's companion resolution by a 48-to-50 vote, leaving the ban intact. Official figures cited in the Thursday releases noted that more than half of the over 462,000 reproductive-age veterans in VA healthcare and over 112,000 women in CHAMPVA live in states with abortion bans or restrictions.
