Scarper Ridge Golden Gate National Recreation Area Boundary Adjustment Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, as we stand here in the comfort of the U.S. Capitol on this beautiful spring day, men and women are in harm's way, serving this country, sacrificing for our defense in the Middle East.

And I emphasize women, as well as men, are bravely and steadfastly sacrificing away from their families, away from their homes, away from the comfort that we take for granted.

Women are the fastest growing demographic in our military. They are performing combat tasks, as well as support. They are serving in every aspect of our U.S. military, and we are the better for it.

We have encouraged more women to join the ranks of our military because of the tremendous talent, energy, patriotism, insight, compassion, and loyalty that they bring to service. And now, we are betraying them. Now, we are constricting the healthcare available to them, purposefully, simply out of ideological bias.

On New Year's Eve, the Trump administration greeted 2026 by quietly, indeed secretively, implementing a near-total abortion ban at the VA. It is a new policy that targets women veterans, many of them survivors of sexual assault or with service-connected disabilities or conditions. Shamefully, they rob those veterans of access to essential healthcare, hundreds of thousands of them, even when their healthcare is at risk or they have been raped.

In the post-Dobbs world, this new policy is dangerous, and it is cruel. It severely jeopardizes women veterans' health and safety. It prioritizes culture wars and political games over our Nation's heroes. It disrespects and endangers more than 462,000 women of reproductive age, and that number is growing because more women are serving. They are enrolled in the VA healthcare system, and they live in States where there are abortion bans or restrictions. So the VA is their only source of healthcare when it comes to abortion.

On behalf of these women, I urge passage today of my Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn this abhorrent new policy, which imposes not only a ban on reproductive rights care but also counseling. It is a gag order imposed on healthcare providers who should be free to advise and guide women in making these life-changing decisions about what to do with their own bodies, and this counseling is necessary for them to make those decisions about what to do with their futures.

And sometimes, they may be advised to have children when they may be doubtful about it. The point is that politicians shouldn't be dictating to our Nation's heroes--our veterans--what kind of futures and decisions about their families they should be making. It should be those women veterans consulting doctors.

A ban with the primary purpose of preventing women veterans to receive abortion care or counseling, even if they are victims of rape or incest, even if their health is at risk, is absolutely disgusting and dangerous. And keep in mind healthcare should include abortion. Abortion is healthcare. Healthcare is a human right, and it is not just care but also counseling. It is simply no way to treat veterans who have raised their right hand and been willing to die for their country and who right now are, in fact, in harm's way, serving their country.

Last month, I joined women veterans to discuss the practical impact of this rule. I want to talk about some of their stories and read some of what they had to say because they bravely shared the practical impacts, and they highlight the human impact of this administration's archaic and perilous policy.

Alex, for example, is an Air Force veteran and a sexual assault survivor. During her second miscarriage, she was not provided with the care she needed, and it nearly cost her her life.

Alex and her husband are terrified to get pregnant again in light of her experience when she nearly bled to death when suffering a miscarriage and care was denied to her. An OB-GYN finally intervened. She was horrified when she learned the severity of her situation, but it potentially compromised her fertility.

In her own words:

Due to complex service-connected health conditions, pregnancy is very high risk for me. In order to get pregnant again, I need to know I can trust my doctors. I need the ability to have difficult, in-depth conversations with them, that they are with my health and I every step of the way, and will without hesitation step in to save my life and fertility if something goes wrong. However, with this new ban, I no longer have that faith in the VA . . . As a result, my husband and I may never get to realize our dream anymore.

For all of us, both sides of the aisle, both views--or many different views on abortion--this story ought to be heartbreaking. A couple who wants to have children and needs advice and counseling is denied it because of this policy.

Another veteran I met, Lauren, was denied the lifesaving care she needed when experiencing a miscarriage under the VA's previous abortion ban before the administration stepped in to expand veterans' access to healthcare. She was denied care from a community care provider when having a miscarriage. She was eventually able to get that care elsewhere. She stressed the danger of being denied the lifesaving care at the moment she needed it from the VA.

And in her own words:

Unfortunately, this has been a reality for so many across the country, but what's happened to me isn't isolated. As a former combat medic, I hear from so many women veterans with similar reproductive issues triggered during service, ranging from a wide array of environmental and occupational factors to include toxic exposure.

And she said:

I served our country and was promised comprehensive health care for disabilities I incurred in service, which includes abortion care. Instead, radical ideologies have infiltrated our clinics.

Denying victims of rape or incest the essential care they need is an insult, but it is more than an insult. It is an injury to veterans who put their lives on the line to serve our great Nation, which has made a promise to them. It is a promise it makes to men, as well as women, that they will receive the healthcare they need from the VA. It is a promise that a great Nation cannot break.

Today, we have the opportunity to right this heartbreaking wrong. We can overturn this cruel, misguided policy by passing our Congressional Review Act resolution.

And to my Republican colleagues, let me just say: If you believe women veterans ought to be denied healthcare, if you believe we should break our promise to them, if you believe that this cruel, dangerous policy should be sustained, I understand you will vote against this.

But I am hoping that you believe in protecting women veterans who have been raped or whose health is at risk, and the only way you can prove it is by supporting this resolution. Prove it today because these veterans deserve action, not just words or rhetoric or empty promises.

Open your eyes to the horror of this policy as it affects individual women veterans who need this healthcare. Please join us in overturning this absolutely abhorrent policy.

I am grateful to colleagues who have joined me on the floor today.
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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, in just minutes, we will vote on Calendar No. 338, S.J. Res. 103, which will reverse the indecent, unjust policy that this administration implemented secretively on New Year's Eve.

I ask my colleagues to keep in their minds and thoughts and hearts the women veterans who have devoted so much to this country and who continue to serve and sacrifice as we speak.

I ask them to keep in mind the female service officer who was raped before transitioning out of the military service and who learned she was pregnant after enrolling in the VA's healthcare system. She is no longer covered by the VA to have an abortion. If she were still on Active Duty, the Department of Defense would pay for or perform the abortion. If she worked for the VA, her Federal employee healthcare insurance would pay for the abortion. If she were someone serving in a Federal prison, her abortion would be covered. But because she is an enrollee in the VA's healthcare system after bravely serving this country, she is not even covered for an abortion resulting from rape or if her health is at risk.

That is not right. That is not just. That is not worthy of a great country. It is not matching her service with our staying faithful to her.

So for all these reasons, advocates of women's healthcare, advocates of veterans, and people who simply support healthcare as a human right support this resolution to do the right thing.

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