Veterans on the VA Offering Abortion Services: ‘It Is a Huge Step Forward’

In September, the Department of Veterans Affairs started offering abortion services and counseling to veterans and their beneficiaries…for the first time in its history. The new policy is a direct result of SCOTUS’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade — and the VA will only offer abortion in cases of rape, incest, or when a pregnancy endangers a person's "life or health." (But, worth noting: Veterans can be at greater risk of pregnancy-related complications due to higher rates of chronic health conditions.) Those services will even be available in the more than a dozen states where abortion has recently been banned (see Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas) or heavily restricted (see: Georgia). 

It’s a big deal for women’s health care in the VA — which, by the way, is the nation’s largest health care system. All in all, the change could benefit the approximately 300,000 veterans of childbearing age. And, especially the 155,000-plus veterans who live in states that’ve put strict limits on abortion. With that in mind, theSkimm reached out to veterans and veterans’ advocates to get their perspective on the historic change, including:

• Retired US Air Force Colonel Lorry M. Fenner, the director of government relations for the Service Women’s Action Network 

• Allison Jaslow, an Iraq War veteran and Operation Liberty co-founder 

Here’s what they had to say in separate phone interviews.

 Psst: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What was your reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade?

Jaslow: As a combat veteran, it has been a little hard to swallow. For this reason specifically: My country trusted me with life and death decisions in war. They trusted me with my troops’ lives in combat [and] millions of dollars of war-fighting equipment, but now no longer trusts me with decisions regarding my own body and health care? To me, processing all of it with my lived experience and sacrifice for this country that now sees me as a second-class citizen — even though many people were expecting this — landed a lot harder than I expected it to.

Fenner: We belong to both military service and veteran service organizations, coalitions, but also [we sit in with] the reproductive rights community. And nobody was shocked. We knew that there was going to be work to do for the military and for veterans.

How has the SCOTUS ruling influenced your advocacy work?

Fenner: The thing that affects active duty women is that they would normally — except for rape, incest, or life of the mother — go off base and into the community [for the procedure]...We've been advocating for and supporting various legislative measures and supporting the VA and DoD measures to try to allow expanded reproductive care in states that are denying [abortion].

Jaslow: [In] anticipating the decision, both my co-founders and I knew that this decision was going to uniquely impact the military veterans community. Basically, the reason we started Operation Liberty is to make sure that story was being told and that people understood the unique impacts on women veterans and women in the military, specifically. Women in the military can't pick up and move their job location or choose where they're going to be stationed. 

Part of the conversation is policy advocacy, too. How can we in this moment find an influence [and] real executive action — understanding that it could be a long time before a law is passed to codify Roe? Or, if there are other court cases that come about, that’s going to take many years. How can we respond in this moment and try to influence action to save lives in a really dire time in our country?

What was your reaction to the VA's decision to provide some abortion services and counseling?

Fenner: We applaud the VA for taking this measure and including the health of the pregnant veteran and beneficiaries. We applaud that it starts with abortion counseling before you even get to care. It is a huge step forward, but it doesn't cover everything that needs to be done now.[The rule] was enforced the minute that they printed it in the Federal Register despite having a 30-day comment period. The VA is not set up with OB-GYN and the women's health facilities to the extent that it should've been. Now with new services, it will have to expand that. 

The second half of this is that we are very well aware that this could come crashing down. The administration could moderate the rule if it gets too much pushback. Some people could try to narrow the scope or overturn the rule, if they can find a basis in law. With a new Congress, they could try to overturn the rule. Certainly a new administration — but that's two years away — could overturn the rule. We know that there are some court cases coming already.

Jaslow: Sadly, the reproductive care that the VA's been giving women veterans for some time has been less than ideal. To put it simply, there were inequities in the health care that was given to women veterans who were patients with the VA and women who received their health care from other federal health care programs. This is welcome progress to actually get care to women, especially in the states that have very restrictive abortion bans, and get them the care that they need and, frankly, have earned and deserve.

What some people have caught onto — and makes me feel good about the direction the VA took — is that [the rule’s for] rape, incest, life and health of the mother. They're very clear in their rule about how much trust they're putting in patients and doctors to make the determination if a patient meets the exception criteria. I feel like it is a more supportive policy than you even see in other federal health care programs, that helps patients and doctors come up with the best solution for care.

What else could the VA do?

Jaslow: When it comes to women, most people's issues are cultural issues. Whether it's the sexual assault or harassment [or] not being assumed to be a veteran [when] walking in with a male spouse. That has been more of a theme of feedback from women veterans. In the Affordable Care Act, there's a provision that any woman who gets birth control can get it without a copay. At the VA, women veterans are still having to pay this copay. There's been some great congressional leadership to really pack away at pieces. But there's things that we've had to either bring to parity with other male veterans or other federal health care programs. That's been really hard because when people think of vets, they don't think of women. And it shows in the policy action that's taken and in the services that we’re provided.

Fenner: Other reproductive care like IVF. Right now that is very limited to heterosexual married couples who have combat injuries that prevent them from being pregnant. But both parties in that heterosexual relationship have to provide what they call gametes, which is the woman has to provide her own viable eggs and the man has to provide his own viable sperm. [Meaning, donor sperm or eggs aren't covered.]

Again, a harassment- and assault-free experience for women at veterans facilities. A lot of women vets don't actually use the VA because of their experiences both in the service and when they go to VA. Through surveys and such, the coalition finds that there's a lot of disrespect for women and other minority veterans.