Earlier this week, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville sent a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough demanding answers about the agency’s new rule that funds abortions at VA medical facilities.
“I have asked several times for data and materials on the implementation of the rule, but your Department has refused to provide information, claiming privacy and sensitivity issues,” wrote Senator Tuberville. “As a Member of this Committee, with a duty to provide oversight of services to veterans, taxpayer funding, and effective legislation, I reject the notion that VA can intentionally withhold information from Congress.”
Tuberville has been asking questions about the VA’s revised abortion rule since a committee hearing in September 2022. Tuberville followed up with submitted questions in writing the same month and again in February 2023.
“I have asked several times for data and materials on the implementation of the rule, but your Department has refused to provide information, claiming privacy and sensitivity issues,” Tuberville wrote. “I submitted a question for the record related to the hearing on September 21, 2022, regarding to this rule’s implementation. On February 15, 2023, I asked, again, for information related to this rule. On March 15, 2023, at a hearing of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on the Electronic Health Record Modernization program, I asked Under Secretary for Health, Dr. [Shereef] Elnahal, for information on the implementation of the rule, and he refused to provide any information. As of today, I still have not received answers to my questions.”
Tuberville claims that to this point, the VA and Secretary McDonough have refused to fully comply with his requests for information.
“I have asked several times for data and materials on the implementation of the rule, but your Department has refused to provide information, claiming privacy and sensitivity issues,” Tuberville charged.
Tuberville gave the VA a deadline of May 17 to fully comply with his formal request for information and answer the questions he posed to the Biden Administration.
Abortions are illegal in Alabama, but the Biden Administration has sought to thwart state law and the Alabama Constitution.
Tuberville has voted to defund abortions at VA facilities.
Sen. Tuberville has drawn criticism from the Biden administration and the Department of Defense for his holding up of military and Department of Defense promotions over his disagreement with the Biden administration’s controversial abortion policies in pro-life states.
The Biden administration has denounced the Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and maintains that abortion is a necessary healthcare procedure.
Tuberville was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020 following a long successful career as a football coach, sports broadcaster, and educator.
