Underwood Advocates for Access to Life-Saving Abortion Care for Veterans, Opposes Republicans' Extremist Agenda to Criminalize Abortion

Press Release

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) continued her work to advocate for safe and legal abortion care by supporting policies to expand access to this life-saving health care for veterans. In a Committee on Veterans' Affairs hearing, Underwood emphasized her support for the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) new interim final rule that allows VA to provide abortion counseling and abortion care in cases of incest, rape, or when the health or life of the mother is endangered. Before this change, abortions and abortion counseling were completely excluded -- with no exceptions -- from VA's medical benefits package for veterans, putting their health and our national security at risk.

"As a nurse, I applaud this rule from VA, which is grounded in medical evidence and critical for patient safety," said Underwood. "It is critical that we build on this rule with legislation, litigation, administrative action, and every other available tool to guarantee every woman's freedom to make health decisions about their families and their futures."

Underwood asked Dr. Shereef Elnahal, Under Secretary for Health at VA, to share the stories of veterans and health care providers who sounded the alarm about abortion restrictions that are creating medical emergencies for veterans, which informed the development of VA's new policy.

Full video of Underwood's remarks can be found here.

Unfortunately, this evidence-based policy change by VA -- which will save veterans' lives and help protect our national security -- was attacked by committee Republicans during the hearing. This week, Republicans in Congress introduced an extreme national abortion ban that would criminalize life-saving health care and worsen health outcomes for veterans. Underwood is committed to protecting this fundamental right.

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