WASHINGTON (BP) — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should not pay for abortions nor counsel expectant mothers to end their unborn babies’ lives, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) Acting President Miles Mullin said in a letter to the department Sept. 3.

“Under statutory requirements, the VA medical benefits package may only include services ‘needed to promote, preserve, or restore the health of the individual’ as determined by appropriate healthcare professionals,” Mullin wrote. “From its inception in 1999 until 2022, the VA medical benefits package prohibited abortion because it is not a ‘needed’ service for beneficiaries.”

On behalf of the ERLC, Mullin submitted comments supporting the approval of the VA’s proposed rule to end abortion coverage both he and the VA said was enacted expressly in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The Biden administration reversed the longstanding policy in 2022 “as a direct response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization” as a “political maneuver” to provide abortion coverage for women in states where abortion was no longer legal, Mullin wrote.

Under the proposed rule posted in the Federal Registry, the VA would still cover certain abortions to save the lives of expectant mothers.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the proposed rule would make clear that the exclusion for abortion does not apply ‘when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term,’” the posted rule reads. “This is also consistent with the pre-2022 regulations for the CHAMPVA (Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs) program. No state law prohibits treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages to save the life of a mother.”

Katy Roberts, ERLC’s senior policy manager, called the Biden administration “reprehensible” in its efforts to push “a pro-abortion agenda on our nation’s veterans and their dependents under the guise of appropriate health care.

“As Southern Baptists have affirmed time and again — abortion is not health care” Roberts told Baptist Press. “By no means should American taxpayers foot the bill or bear the moral weight for abortion or abortion counseling.”

The proposed rule “represents a return to common sense and proper legal interpretation,” Roberts said. “For decades, the VA has maintained long-standing prohibitions on taxpayer-funded abortions and abortion counseling, ensuring that the federal government does not subsidize or encourage the merciless taking of innocent life. There has never been a reason, fiscally, statutorily, medically or morally to compromise on this standard.”

The Biden-era rule overlooks eight states where pro-life laws make no exceptions for rape and incest, Mullin wrote, and discounts that “no state prevents providing life-saving care to women experiencing ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, or other life-threatening complications. … Instances of rape and incest, while egregious, sinful, and tragic, do not require an abortion for any medical purpose and are therefore not ‘needed.’”

Mullin cited Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 139:13 in stating that Southern Baptists are pro-life. Messengers to Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings have often spoken in favor of life, most recently with a 2025 resolution against chemical abortions and in 2022 in anticipation of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. 

The VA received comments as required by law in response to the proposed rule change to the VA’s medical benefits package and the CHAMPVA and will publish submitted comments in the Federal Registry. More than 23,600 comments were received before the filing deadline, including more than 500 today (Sept. 3).

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)