But with negotiations for the 2024 budget underway in Congress, the policy and the access it codifies are under attack. In June, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee advanced a budget that prohibited abortion care (and gender affirming care and the pride flag) at VA facilities. The committee’s counterpart in the Senate passed its own version of the budget without the attacks on abortion and gender-affirming care. The two budgets will have to be reconciled in a closed-door conference committee process. Advocates worried that the abortion policy could end up as a bargaining chip in that process.
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