Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Confirmation of Doug Collins for Secretary of Veterans Affairs - Reproductive Freedom for All

Formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America

Press Release

Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Confirmation of Doug Collins for Secretary of Veterans Affairs

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Contact: [email protected]

Reproductive Freedom for All Responds to Confirmation of Doug Collins for Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Washington, DC Today, Doug Collins was confirmed as Trump’s secretary of Veteran Affairs (VA). Collins has signaled that he intends to exploit the VA to help Trump roll back reproductive freedom. During a recent Senate confirmation hearing, Collins suggested that a Biden administration rule allowing the agency to provide abortion counseling and, in certain cases including to preserve the life or health of the pregnant person or when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, the procedure itself is illegal and noted that he would scrutinize it if confirmed. The Biden administration put protections for reproductive health services in place at the VA following the 2022 Supreme Court decision striking down the constitutional right to an abortion.

Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:

“Nominee after nominee, Trump is assembling an extremist cabinet emboldened to ban abortion fully. With Collins at the helm of the VA, Trump has yet another tool at his disposal to roll back our reproductive freedoms. Republicans are doing everything in their power to strip away our care, and our 4 million members will hold them accountable for it.”

During his time serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Collins took extreme positions opposing birth control coverage benefits, supporting a nationwide abortion ban, and voting to dismantle the widely popular Affordable Care Act. He earned a 0% on Reproductive Freedom for All’s Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom every year he was in the House.

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For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.