WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., have joined 11 other Republican senators and 26 members of the House of Representatives in a public comment letter expressing strong opposition to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) interim final rule (IFR) that illegally allows abortions to be offered by the VA.

The lawmakers cite the VA’s explicit statutory prohibition on abortion that has governed the VA for 30 years. The letter calls on Secretary of VA Denis McDonough to promptly rescind the rule.

“The VA does not have the power to override an Act of Congress to impose its preferred policy of taxpayer-funded abortion on demand until birth,” the lawmakers wrote. “Tragically, the IFR is the latest in a long string of actions the Biden Administration has taken to promote the killing of unborn children through abortion in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. We demand that you immediately rescind the IFR and revert the VA’s policies to the long-standing prior regulation excluding abortion and abortion counseling from the VA’s medical benefits package as well as the CHAMPVA program, in conformity with the law and congressional intent.”

The letter was led by U.S. Senator James Lankford, R-Okla. Wicker and Hyde-Smith were joined by Senators Steve Daines, R-Mont., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Mike Braun, R-Ind., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Jim Risch, R-Idaho, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Mike Crapo, R- Idaho, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla. Representative Michael Cloud, R-Texas, led the effort in the House of Representatives.

The full text of the letter can be found here.