The Tibor Rubin Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California (Getty)
Then-Rep. Gillespie Montgomery, D-Miss., laid out in his 1992 Veterans Health Care Act that the agency could provide women with multiple healthcare services, including Papanicolaou Tests ("Pap-smears"), mammography and "general reproductive care, including the management of menopause."
However, the law explicitly precluded "infertility services [and] abortions" unless they relate to a pregnancy with "risks of complication [that] are increased by a service-connected condition."
"Prior to the Biden administration’s politically motivated change in 2022, federal law and longstanding precedent across Democrat and Republican administrations prevented VA from providing abortions and abortion counseling," a VA spokesperson told Fox News Digital in discussing the policy reversal.
VA SEC HITS BACK AT FAKE NEWS CRITICS, DEFENDS DOGE ON VETERANS HEALTH CARE
"VA’s proposed rule will reinstate the pre-Biden bipartisan policy, bringing the department back in line with historical norms."
The VA memo added that the Dobbs decision was intended to prevent federal overreach and return control of abortion policy to the states, and that the agency prior to current Secretary Doug Collins’ tenure "did the exact opposite" of what it said its 2022 policy change was intended to do in that regard.
"[It] creat[ed] a purported federal entitlement to abortion for veterans where none had existed before, and without regard to state law," the VA said.
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"For nearly 50 years, and across a slew of federal programs, including Medicaid, the Child Health Insurance Program, TriCare, Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, and others, Congress has consistently drawn a bright line between elective abortion and health care services that taxpayers would support."
The agency also emphasized that its policy reversal will not prevent pregnant women facing life-threatening circumstances from receiving care in those instances.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/va-reverses-biden-admin-policy-providing-abortion-services-agency-calls-contrary-federal-law