Military Law
Aug. 4, 2026
Lawsuit challenges VA's decision to deny abortions to veterans
The VA's near-total elimination of abortion care and counseling for veterans, which took effect Dec. 31, 2025, under Secretary Doug Collins following a reversed Justice Department opinion, is now being challenged in a lawsuit that avoids constitutional arguments and instead claims the agency violated the technical rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
4th Appellate District, Division 3
Eileen C. Moore
Associate Justice
California Courts of Appeal
Until recently, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) held the legal position that it possessed broad regulatory authority to protect the health of veterans, which authority included providing abortion counseling and administering abortions under certain limited circumstances: 1) The life of the pregnant veteran would be threatened if the pregnancy were carried to term; 2) The physical or mental health of the pregnant veteran was severely endangered by the pregnancy; or 3) ...
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