In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion regulation to the states, a cascade of new laws and policy reversals has swept across the United States, reshaping the landscape for reproductive rights and public health. Nowhere is this more evident than in the recent moves by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Texas state legislature, and the ripple effects these actions have had on infant and maternal health outcomes nationwide.
On August 4, 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs introduced a proposed rule that would rescind its 2022 policy expanding veterans’ medical benefits to include elective abortions. According to The Daily Citizen, this policy shift would prevent veterans and their families from obtaining taxpayer-funded elective abortions—a significant reversal from the VA’s broader coverage established just three years prior. Before 2022, the VA only covered abortions when a pregnancy threatened a mother’s life. The expansion that year, however, allowed for abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the pregnancy endangered the mother’s health, even including "quality of life" considerations. Under those guidelines, a woman could seek an abortion if she believed her quality of life would be diminished by carrying a pregnancy to term.
This expansion by the VA ran parallel to the Department of Defense’s (DOD) policy that reimbursed active service members and their families for travel and time off to obtain abortions. The DOD rescinded its policy in January 2025, citing violations of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used for elective abortions. The VA, in its filing justifying the proposed rollback, argued that its 2022 rules similarly contradicted “decades of Federal policy against forced taxpayer funding for abortion.” The department further contended that the rule change was an improper use of federal power, intended to circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision and reestablish state control over abortion policy.
The public comment period for the VA’s proposed revisions closed on September 3, 2025. If approved, the VA would revert to its pre-2022 guidelines, continuing to cover treatments for ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages that threaten a mother’s life—procedures not prohibited by any state law. The VA emphasized, “Treatment for ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages were covered under the VA’s medical benefits package prior to the 2022 [expansion]. No State law prohibits treatment of ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages to save the life of a mother.”
This federal retrenchment comes as states like Texas are doubling down on their own abortion restrictions, often employing novel legal strategies that have drawn both praise and sharp criticism. In 2025, Texas lawmakers passed a bill expanding civil lawsuit powers to target anyone involved in the provision of abortion pills, echoing the controversial 2021 fetal-heartbeat law that relied on citizen litigation. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the new law allows any individual to sue manufacturers, distributors, mailers, or providers of abortion medication, though women who take the pills themselves cannot be sued. The editorial board likened the law to "Wanted" posters from the Old West, describing it as “open season, legally speaking, on anyone who manufactures, distributes, mails or otherwise provides the pills.”
The tactic of deputizing private citizens to enforce abortion bans has proven effective in dramatically reducing the number of abortions performed in Texas. Since Roe was overturned, the number of abortions in the state has plummeted from tens of thousands per year to just a handful each month, mostly for emergency medical needs. But the human cost has been significant. The Star-Telegram reported cases of women in grave danger or with significant fetal abnormalities being denied abortions because hospitals and doctors feared prosecution. Lawmakers attempted to clarify exceptions for medical emergencies, but the ban likely contributed to a rise in maternal mortality rates in Texas between 2019 and 2022. Black and Hispanic women, in particular, face disproportionately higher risks.
The editorial board did not mince words about the wider implications of the law, warning, “Turning neighbors and families against each other isn’t the best way to protect life.” They questioned how long Texas Republicans could maintain exemptions for women who take abortion pills themselves, noting, “That’s just not the Texas way—or it shouldn’t be.” The board also criticized the law for encouraging litigation reminiscent of authoritarian regimes, arguing that it opens the door to abuses of the legal system and erodes community trust.
While Texas stands as a bellwether for aggressive abortion restrictions, the consequences of such policies are being felt across the country. An August 2025 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that infant mortality increased in states that enacted tighter abortion restrictions after the Dobbs decision. Drawing on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2018 to 2023, researchers observed a 7.2% average increase in infant deaths in these states—roughly 30 additional deaths per year among children up to age one. Notably, the increase was concentrated among infants between one month and one year old, who suffered a 9.3% rise in excess deaths.
Even in states where abortion restrictions included health exceptions—permitting the procedure to save the mother’s life or in cases of life-limiting fetal abnormalities—infant deaths rose at similar rates as in states without such exceptions. The study’s authors suggested that vague statutory language left medical professionals uncertain about how and when to apply these exceptions, potentially leading to hesitancy in treating patients at risk.
This pattern is not entirely new. Previous research found that infant deaths in Texas rose nearly 13% after the passage of Senate Bill 8 in 2021. The latest study, as reported by The Conversation, suggests that the Texas experience is part of a broader national trend in the wake of Roe’s overturn. The researchers emphasized the need for further studies to understand precisely how abortion restrictions are contributing to increased infant mortality and to address disparities among different racial and socioeconomic groups.
The ongoing debate over abortion rights and restrictions is as much about legal and moral principles as it is about tangible health outcomes. Policymakers, legislators, and voters are left to grapple with the complex interplay of federal and state powers, individual rights, and the unintended consequences of laws designed to protect life. As the patchwork of abortion legislation continues to evolve, so too does the challenge of ensuring that the most vulnerable—mothers and infants—do not pay the highest price.
The coming months will reveal whether the VA’s proposed rollback is finalized and how Texas’ expanded civil litigation law will play out in practice. What’s clear, however, is that these developments are shaping not just the legal contours of abortion in America, but the very real health and well-being of families across the nation.
