On September 3rd, the ERLC filed public comments to end a Biden-era rule requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to include healthcare coverage for abortion. These comments were submitted on a notice of proposed rule-making (NPRM) from the VA rescinding a final rule from the Biden Administration that added abortion and abortion counseling coverage to certain VA health plans despite legal prohibitions preventing the VA from funding abortions. The Trump Administration’s proposed rule returns to the correct legal interpretation of the VA’s abortion prohibition in effect since 1992. The ERLC welcomes this corrective proposed rule to restore the VA health plans to respecting the dignity of human life and the consciences of American taxpayers.
The ERLC is pleased to see the VA return to the law in its medical benefits package and CHAMPVA coverage. This NPRM will undoubtedly save the lives of more children at risk of death by the hands of abortion industry. We encourage the VA to continue on this path of creating health care plans that value life, protect the conscience rights of medical professionals, and rightly steward our taxpayer dollars.
Additionally, the ERLC supported a letter organized by member of Congress affirming the VA’s proposed rule. The letter was signed by 57 representatives and 15 senators. These members of Congress recognize the Biden rule conflated real health care with abortion coverage to push a pro-abortion agenda on our nation’s veterans and their families.
What does it mean to file public comments?
When a federal agency like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes a new rule or regulatory change such as rescinding a previous rule, it must publish the proposal in the Federal Register and open a period for “public comment.”
Filing a public comment means submitting written feedback—supporting, opposing, or suggesting changes—about that proposed rule. These comments can come from individuals, organizations, or other stakeholders. The agency is required to review and consider all substantive comments before finalizing the rule.
Why should this rule from the Biden Administration be rescinded?
The ERLC is deeply troubled by the conflation of abortion as healthcare under this rule. The ERLC affirms that God created every person—male and female—in His own image endowed with equal value and dignity. We also affirm that every life is worthy of protection. Life begins at conception and abortion denies precious human lives both personhood and protection.
Under the Biden-era rule, VA medical providers could counsel women toward abortion at any stage in their pregnancy, functionally promoting abortion on-demand. The rule also violated the consciences of VA medical providers who oppose abortion due to their deeply held beliefs.
The Biden VA rule not only violated the legal prohibition against covering abortions, but also the consciences’ of American taxpayers who object to their money going toward morally objectionable procedures that take an innocent pre-born life.
The ERLC welcomes this corrective proposed rule to restore the VA medical benefits package and CHAMPVA to respecting the dignity of human life and the consciences’ of American taxpayers.
Abortion is never “needed” or “medically necessary and appropriate.”
Did the ERLC speak out against this during the Biden Administration?
Yes, the ERLC filed comments in 2022 as explained in this letter:
In October 2022, the ERLC filed public comments with the VA in response to an Interim Final Rule (IFR) identically titled, “Reproductive Health Services,” which drastically expanded abortion coverage in the medical benefits package and under CHAMPVA. In these comments, the ERLC outlined why the IFR explicitly violated statutory prohibitions on the VA from providing abortion services and undermined long-standing taxpayer protections from funding abortions.
What do Southern Baptists believe about abortion?
Southern Baptists affirm that every person is worthy of protection from the moment life begins at conception. We believe abortion denies precious human lives both personhood and protection.
Southern Baptists affirm the inherent dignity, value, and right to life of every person.
The Bible is clear that every person is made in the image of God – including the preborn – and his knowledge of these precious lives even precedes the creative act of conception (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13). Every human being, no matter their stage of development, abilities, or circumstances of their conception, bears God’s image and has, therefore, been given immeasurable value. Thus, abortion, at any stage of development denies the preborn child their inherent human rights, given to them by God.
