Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, hosted a virtual news conference with female veterans who shared their stories about their frustrations and challenges on obtaining abortion services. Blumenthal is co-leading a joint resolution to roll back a near total ban on abortion services and counseling at VA medical facilities. (Jaimee Freeman/U.S. Air Force)
WASHINGTON — Harrowing stories of female veterans who sought abortion services after sexual assault and pregnancy complications were shared at an unusual news conference held by the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The first-person accounts — offered at a virtual roundtable attended by veterans and abortion advocates — included details of financial hardship, severe health risks and hard choices by former service members who described a health care system ill-equipped to offer the assistance they needed.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, hosted the event as a way to highlight a joint resolution that would roll back a recent ban on most abortion services at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities.
The resolution would restore a September 2022 rule by the former Biden administration that allowed limited abortion counseling and services — in instances of rape, incest and threat to life or health.
About 100 to 140 abortions were performed annually at VA facilities between 2022 and 2025, before VA Secretary Doug Collins restored a near-total ban on abortions through a rule change in December 2025.
“Taxpayers do not want their hard-earned money spent on paying for abortions,” Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., committee chairman of the House VA Committee, said last year.
The near-total ban now in effect permits abortion services only if a VA physician certifies they are necessary to save the life of the pregnant veteran.
“I’m honored to join strong advocates, including veterans here today, whose courage is most inspiring,” Blumenthal said Thursday at the roundtable, which was followed by questions from reporters. “We are seeing a retrograde rollback of access under this administration.”
The pending resolution is a Congressional Review Act that can invalidate a regulation by a simple majority, upon adoption by Congress and signing by the president.
“Make no mistake, the CRA will get a vote. The only question is when. I believe we will have the requisite number for it to pass,” said Blumenthal, who is pushing for a vote in the next several weeks.
Lauren Feringa, a former Army combat medic in Iraq and Afghanistan, was among the veterans who shared her frustrations and challenges trying to obtain counseling and services for ending pregnancies.
Feringa said she had health complications while pregnant. But she said that a VA-registered clinician refused to perform a medical procedure known as a D&C — or dilation and curettage — when she began to miscarry.
“No patients should have to go back and forth with providers or politicians on the care they need to have,” said Feringa, of Missouri, who is married with two children. “Under abortion bans, opinions outweigh a woman’s word.”
A D&C, which removes tissue from the uterus, can be used to perform an abortion and to treat miscarriages.
Feringa said in her view the abortion ban that was in effect prior to 2022 kept the clinician from providing appropriate care in her best interest.
Alex Dobhailen, an Air Force veteran, said she experienced sexual assault in the military.
“In 2016, I was raped in the military and reported it. I was terrified I might be pregnant,” said Dobhailen, a medically retired Air Force officer.
Dobhailen said she had considered herself to be “pro life with possible exceptions” before the sexual assault.
“The weight of the process and an impossible decision on whether to get an abortion, if I was pregnant, became a life-threatening situation for me,” Dobhailen said.
“This changed my view on abortion. You can’t truly understand a person’s situation or reasoning unless you’ve experienced it. For me, that was a turning point. Thankfully, I was not pregnant,” she said.
Dobhailen said that she and her husband since then have had problems having children.
Dobhailen said she wants to use the VA for health services. But she expressed concern about her care under the abortion ban.
“Pregnancy is a high risk for me. I need to know I can trust my doctors, and that they will — without hesitation — save my life if something goes wrong. I no longer have that faith with the VA,” she said.
About 460,000 female veterans of reproductive age receive health services at VA facilities, with nearly half residing in states with abortion bans and restrictions, Blumenthal said. Women are the fastest-growing demographic in the military.
“I have pressed the VA secretary and VA leaders about this issue. But they are implacable. They are intransigent,” Blumenthal said.
Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., a member of the House VA Committee, is helping to lead the joint resolution in the House.
“Denying women veterans access to essential reproductive care leaves doctors constrained from acting in their patients’ best interests, and patients at risk of preventable and health-threatening complications,” Brownley said.
Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is co-leading a joint resolution to overturn a near total ban on abortion counseling and services at VA medical facilities. The resolution is a congressional review act that can nullify regulations by a simple majority. (Rep. Julia Brownley’s office)
