Tuberville leads lawmakers against VA abortion policy

Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Wednesday led a bipartisan group of lawmakers in opposition to the Veterans Affairs Department's policy to provide abortions through its facilities.

Tuberville appeared in a press conference alongside Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Roger Marshall, R-Kans., hours ahead of a chamber vote on whether to block the plan.

"In a few hours we’re going to vote to overturn the Veterans Affairs Department’s new abortion policy," he said. "We’re going to vote to overturn it because it is illegal, it is wrong, and it's an abuse of taxpayer dollars. In September the VA announced they were going to start performing abortions. The VA had never performed abortions before."

Tuberville recalled a congressional act barring abortions at the VA, noting that the passage of that measure was unanimous. 

"One of the Senators who voted for that bill was Joe Biden. We have never repealed this law. It is still on the books and the Administration needs to follow it. The Administration doesn’t get to change the law without a vote in Congress," he went on.

"There has been a bipartisan consensus for 40 years that we should not spend taxpayer dollars on abortion," the Alabama Republican continued. "Many of the Senators complaining about this resolution have voted for the Hyde Amendment. Some of them have voted for the Hyde Amendment many times...This is an attack on doctors and nurses who have moral objections."

The Hyde Amendment almost completely bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortion.

In February, Tuberville and Texas GOP Rep. Michael Cloud led dozens of their fellow lawmakers in introducing a plan to nullify the VA rule. The Senate is expected to vote on the measure Wednesday.

Tuberville expressed optimism that the chamber would back his measure, saying on Twitter that "I look forward to leading a bipartisan group of my colleagues in voting to overturn this rule later today."

The VA rule is one of several Biden administration efforts to secure abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion.

The Department of Defense in February announced that the Pentagon would pay for the travel of servicemembers to visit states where abortion is legal in order to receive the procedure. Tuberville subsequently placed a hold on the approval of Pentagon nominees in a bid to halt that policy's implementation. 

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.