Press Release  AG Campbell Opposes Trump Administration’s Proposed Rollback Of Abortion Care For Veterans And Their Families

Boston — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell co-led a coalition of 22 attorneys general in submitting a comment letter opposing the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) proposed federal rule that would eliminate veterans’ and their families’ access to abortion care.  

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the Biden Administration’s VA announced an interim version of a “Reproductive Health Services” Rule (the Rule) in an effort to increase reproductive freedom. After receiving public comment, the VA finalized the Rule on March 4, 2024.  

The Rule allows veterans and their survivors and dependents to access abortion services at VA health care centers in situations where the patient’s life or health is threatened and in cases of self-reported rape or incest. It also permits veterans and their survivors and dependents to access abortion counseling at VA health centers.  

After the Trump Administration indicated it was considering changing the Rule to restrict access to care, a coalition of attorneys general — including the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office Reproductive Justice Unit — met with officials to express why rolling back the Rule would cause harm to veterans and their families. On August 4, 2025, the Trump Administration published a proposed rule that would eliminate veterans’ and their families’ access to abortion care, formally undoing the Biden Administration’s Rule. This comment letter is submitted in response to the VA’s invitation for public comment. 

In the letter, the attorneys general write that:  

• The proposed rule presents an unclear standard as to when, if at all, VA physicians can provide abortion care. Specifically, the proposed rule’s preamble insists that it will allow VA physicians to provide lifesaving care — in circumstances “when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term” — while the proposed regulatory text bans abortion care for veterans entirely. In addition, to the extent that the VA carves out an exception for the lives of pregnant survivors and dependents, it fails to set out a process by which individuals may take advantage of the exception.
• The proposed rule is extreme in its formulation and is out of step with existing abortion exceptions on the state and federal level. Although exceptions themselves are problematic and often difficult to administer, the VA’s proposed changes would mark a substantial and inhumane departure from decades of policy protecting the health and lives of pregnant patients and the autonomy of pregnant patients who have experienced rape and incest.
• The proposed rule is inadequately justified. It falsely claims that the VA does not have legal authority to provide abortion care, obfuscates other federal abortion policy in order to establish congressional intent for a VA abortion ban where there is none, and relies on political considerations instead of medical ones. 

Joining AG Campbell in sending the comment letter, which she co-led with the attorney general of California, are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

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