A retired Army officer is urging lawmakers to examine the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) expanded abortion policy, warning that the department has drifted from its foundational promise to care for veterans wounded in service.
Chris Wingate, a former Army aeromedical evacuation officer with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, argued in a July 30 Washington Times op-ed that the VA should remain focused on treating the physical and psychological injuries sustained through military service, rather than offering elective procedures unrelated to that purpose.
“Ending the life of an unborn child — no matter how it is labeled — is not a service-connected disability and it should never be treated as one,” he wrote.
Wingate criticized the Biden administration’s decision to authorize abortions within VA facilities under an interim rule issued in 2022, which was finalized in 2024. The policy permits abortion in cases of rape, incest, and threats to a woman’s health.
He noted the policy does not define “health,” which, he said, may include “mental health or other subjective factors.”
“This shift raises significant questions about the executive branch’s authority to reinterpret longstanding statutory limits,” Wingate wrote, “and underscores broader concerns about the politicization of the VA’s healthcare mission.”
Under the finalized rule, VA facilities in all 50 states, including those where abortion is restricted or banned, may now provide abortions. According to the VA’s own report, it performed 88 abortions during the first year of the policy.
Wingate pointed to the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992 and follow-up legislation in 1996 as setting a clear legal boundary.
“This legal framework… reflected a bipartisan understanding that the VA should remain focused on medically necessary care for those injured or affected by military service,” he wrote.
He also argued that the policy change comes at a time when the VA still struggles to deliver essential services, including timely access to primary care, mental health treatment, and specialty services.
“Combat veterans understand better than most the importance of preserving the VA’s integrity and clarity of mission,” Wingate concluded. “The department’s resources must remain focused solely on addressing the physical and psychological wounds of those who served.”