The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing Tuesday to consider the nomination of Doug Collins to lead the agency of the same name. While Collins and Republicans focused on the department’s shortcomings and the well-being of America’s veterans, it’s clear some of the body’s Democrat members had only one issue in mind: the ability to kill unborn children.
Throughout the nearly three-hour-long hearing, Collins fielded an array of hostile questions from Democrat senators about the future of a pro-abortion policy enacted by the Biden Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Specifically, the leftist lawmakers wanted to know whether the Trump administration would repeal the rule.
Enacted in September 2022, the policy in question attempted to circumvent pro-life laws passed in Republican-led states after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. The VA authorized the use of taxpayer funds to “provide access to abortion counseling and — in certain cases — abortions to pregnant Veterans and VA beneficiaries,” a policy state attorneys general and members of Congress have argued violates federal law.
The policy was introduced as an interim rule and was later finalized in March 2024. It was one of several anti-life actions the agency undertook during Joe Biden’s presidency.
In his opening statement, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. — who is known for previously lying about his military service — said he expects the Trump administration “to consider the existing rule legally binding unless it is replaced or struck down.” The Connecticut Democrat subsequently engaged in fearmongering to defend the policy used by the VA to permit the murder of 88 unborn babies during the first year of its enactment.
“I believe that rolling back this policy would unnecessarily risk the lives and health of pregnant veterans in states with abortion bans and care restrictions in the post-Dobbs era,” Blumenthal said.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., similarly used her speaking time to promote the use of taxpayer money to subsidize killing unborn children. The leftist senator posed a foreboding hypothetical to Collins, asking him if he believes “a [female] veteran who lives in Texas who has been raped and becomes pregnant should be able to get abortion care at her local VA [clinic].”
While noting the sensitivity of the issue, Collins said that the “law from 1992 says the VA does not do abortions,” and confirmed that the Trump administration will be examining the legality of the Biden administration’s September 2022 rule.
“We will be looking at that issue when I get in there to confirm that the VA is actually following the law,” Collins said.
That answer seemingly didn’t satisfy extreme leftist Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who effectively repeated Murray’s question and asked whether the Trump administration will repeal the prior administration’s abortion rule. Collins reaffirmed his intent to examine the policy upon confirmation and said, “My … position is based in the law, and I will follow the law in this regard.”
[READ: VA Axes Secret Plan To Hide Iconic V-J Day Photo Over Lack Of ‘Inclusivity’]
Advancing Democrats’ radical abortion agenda is hardly the only left-wing priority shepherded by the VA under the Biden administration.
The agency was engulfed in controversy last year after it was revealed the department was processing health care claims for illegal aliens. Collins pledged during Tuesday’s hearing to investigate the matter upon taking office, saying, “I do not believe any money that’s taken outside the mission of the VA to help the veteran is a worthy cause of the money that has been appropriated for the veteran, and we will not be doing that.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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