Maryland Joins 23 Attorneys General Backing Challenge to VA Rule Restricting Abortion Care for Veterans
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general on Nov. 9 in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in support of plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration's new federal rule on abortion care for veterans, in Minority Veterans of America v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The coalition argues that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) rule, finalized in December 2025, would deny abortion care to 90% of previously eligible patients, jeopardizes the health and wellbeing of veterans and their families, creates dangerous confusion for healthcare providers, and shifts burdensome healthcare costs onto states. The rule reversed protections established in 2022 that permitted abortion care for veterans and their survivors and dependents in cases of self-reported rape or incest, or when a pregnancy threatened a patient's health. In the first year of the 2022 rule, 73% of patients who received abortion care through the VA had pregnancies that threatened their health, 17% were survivors of rape, and 10% faced life-threatening pregnancies.
"This rule change jeopardizes the health and safety of our Veterans and their families, endangering those who have already put their lives on the line for our country," Brown said.
(Source: Maryland Attorney General)
Source: Office of the Maryland Attorney General
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Annapolis 的马里兰州议会大厦。CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Maryland State House in Annapolis. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
