Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include the VA’s response to reporting on the new guidelines.
(NewsNation) — The Department of Veterans Affairs has denied reports that doctors would be allowed to discriminate against veterans based on political affiliation or marital status under new guidelines.
Monday, the Guardian first reported that a rule change allows doctors and other medical professionals working for the VA to refuse to treat patients based on political or marital status.
Macaulay Porter, VA deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, told NewsNation on Tuesday that the changes to bylaws do not override other federal rules preventing discrimination.
“These updates will have no impact whatsoever on who VA treats or employs,” she said.
She specifically cited a VA directive as prohibiting discrimination.
“VHA Directive 1019, which governs all medical services provided by VA, prohibits discrimination in the provision of services on the basis of marital status or political affiliation,” Porter said.
The rule still requires doctors to treat people without regard for federally protected characteristics, including race, religion, sex and color. All veterans are also still entitled to treatment.
However, the revised rule explicitly excludes provisions that require individual doctors to treat patients regardless of their political affiliation or marital status, the Guardian reported.
The VA denied this reporting.
“Federal law and VHA Directive 1019 prohibit that. All eligible Veterans will always be welcome at VA and will always receive the benefits and services they’ve earned under the law,” Porter said.
The new rule was reportedly issued to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order designed to strip government protections from transgender individuals.
The rule was also said to allow doctors to refuse treatment based on nonprotected characteristics, which could include behaviors such as the use of alcohol or other substances.
The Guardian reported that the new rule no longer prohibits the VA from discriminating against potential employees based on national origin, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation or membership in a labor union.
The VA has pushed back on the reporting, calling it “false and defamatory.”
A spokesperson for the agency said federal law and VA bylaws prevent discrimination in treatment and that the Guardian had misinterpreted updated guidelines, which were issued as a formality.
A spokesperson for the Guardian said the story is not being retracted.
“While we have no plans to retract the story — which highlights the VA’s removal of ‘politics’ and ‘marital status’ from a list of protections against discrimination within its bylaws — we are considering additional context provided by the VA after publication,” said Matt Mittenthal, the Guardian’s head of communications.