Women veterans are finally getting access to life-saving reproductive health care, but it is already under threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women represent the fastest-growing cohort of veterans. Today, more than two million living women veterans have fought for and defended our country\u2019s core founding principle: freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s why they served, and it is why they continue to serve in greater numbers than ever before. There is no doubt women veterans deserve our \u201cthanks,\u201d but more importantly, they deserve access to comprehensive health care benefits, including reproductive health care. Until now, they have never had such access to care at the Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was not until 1992 that VA was first authorized to provide reproductive health care services to women veterans<\/a>. However, that original authority excluded pregnancy care, infertility services, and abortion. In 1996, the Veterans Health Care Eligibility Reform Act<\/a> authorized the VA Secretary to determine what kind of care is \u201cneeded\u201d and to design VA\u2019s medical benefits accordingly. VA has since added pregnancy and delivery care to its medical benefits package, and veterans can also now receive certain infertility services at VA<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, when VA first issued regulations to establish its medical benefits package in 1999, it continued to prohibit both abortions and abortion counseling. These prohibitions meant that women veterans have had far more limited access to reproductive health care as veterans than they did while still serving. And their VA medical providers have been subject to a gag rule \u2014 forbidden from discussing all available treatment options with patients experiencing unwanted pregnancies, pregnancy complications, and high-risk pregnancies.<\/p>\n\n\n\t