Pentagon to pay travel costs for military service members to get abortions
October 23, 2022 | Virginia
The U.S. Department of Defense will pay for service members to travel out-of-state to obtain abortions to “ensure that our Service members can access reproductive health care and our health care providers can operate effectively.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent a memorandum to senior Pentagon leadership Thursday on “Ensuring Access to Reproductive Health Care.” He directed the department to establish “travel and transportation allowances for Service members and their dependents, as appropriate and consistent with applicable federal law and operational requirements.”
He also called for creating a “uniform Department of Defense policy that allows for appropriate administrative absence consistent with applicable federal law for non-covered reproductive healthcare.”
The memo outlines that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to allow states to pass laws banning or restricting abortion will mean that “significant numbers of Service members and their families may be forced to travel greater distances, take more time off from work, and pay more out of pocket expenses to receive reproductive health care.”
Lloyd believes that the effects of the court’sruling will impact the Department of Defense’s ability to “recruit, retain, and maintain the readiness of a highly qualified force.”
The secretary ordered the amendment of “any applicable travel regulations” to “facilitate official travel to access non-covered reproductive health care that is unavailable within the local area of a Service member’s permanent duty station.”
He suggested new policies were necessary due to “concerns from many of our Service members and their families about the complexity and the uncertainty that they now face in accessing reproductive health care, including abortion services.”… (Excerpt from The Christian Post)
