The <label> property is not working for va-link components when external=true

[cora-goldston-bah]

Bug Report

• I’ve searched for any related issues and avoided creating a duplicate issue.

What happened

For our product, we're using va-links that open in a new tab, so the external property is set to true. For these external va-links, we've populated the label field to differentiate similarly-worded links from each other for screen readers. However, the label property doesn't appear to be working. When we test with screen readers, the screen reader doesn't announce the value of the label property. We believe this issue is happening across all development environments.

What I expected to happen

We expected that a screen reader would announce the value populated in the label property field.

Reproducing

• Device: PC running Windows 10 Enterprise
• Browser: Chrome v130.0.6723.59
• Assistive technology: Screen reader

Steps to reproduce:

1. Visit this page on the staging site
2. Activate your screen reader program
3. Highlight the Learn more (opens in a new tab) link on the Burial in a VA national cemetery card
4. The screen reader should announce the link as "Learn more about Burial in a VA national cemetery", which is the value populated in the label property field. This is not happening when we test it

Urgency

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• This bug is blocking work currently in progress
• This bug is affecting work currently in progress but we have a workaround
• This bug is blocking work planned within the next few sprints
• This bug is not blocking any work
• Other

[cora-goldston-bah]

Tagging my team members @nkontrabecki @vetskrieg @iseabock for awareness.