Abortion advocates are urging the Department of Defense to facilitate access to abortion in response to widespread expectations that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade this summer.
The Army and Air Force have already made policy changes that make it easier for service members to take leave for the purpose of getting an abortion.
But abortion proponents say the Pentagon itself should establish universal rules for military women seeking an abortion, arguing that this would do away with disparities between the services.
Per The Hill:
“This is not an Air Force issue, an Army issue, a Marine Corps issue, this is a national security Department of Defense personnel readiness issue,” said Rachel VanLandingham, an associate professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles.
“So therefore, this policy should come from the Department of Defense itself. There’s no room for disparities amongst the services,” she added.
The Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funds from being used for abortion unless pregnancy endangers the life of the mother. Tricare, the healthcare program used in the military, only covers abortion those cases and in situations involving rape or incest.
Some servicewomen end up seeking abortions off-base. Such was the case with pro-abortionist Allison Gill, host of the podcasts “Mueller She Wrote” and “The Daily Beans.” Gill claimed in a Washington Post op-ed that she sought an off-base abortion after being raped.
Gill credits Planned Parenthood with allowing her access to abortion, but says that may not have been possible had Roe been overturned at the time.
The Hill continued:
Sean Timmons, a managing partner at the law firm Tully Rickney PLC, says that women could face a more hostile work environment after going through the approval process.
“Even if they get approved, when they return, it’s probably going to get leaked while they were gone,” he said, noting a “good number of people” will likely treat that servicemember differently.
“Half of the ranks are probably going to be voters who are very hostile to abortion,” he added. “So that’s going to make a very difficult environment to work.”
Per a leaked draft opinion that stirred controversy this month, five conservative justices on the Supreme Court are prepared to overturn Roe.
Should that happen, at least 26 states are likely to restrict abortion within their borders.
Kelly Blanchard of Ibis Reproductive Heath, an abortion advocate, said that closing down abortion clinics in some states will place a strain on clinics in the states where abortion will remain legal.
She told The Hill, “You have to travel further, there’s additional expense for the travel, you still have to pay for the procedure, you have to find someone to take care of your kids, if you have kids, you have to deal with the logistics of getting time off.”
The paper further relates:
In mid-April, the Army released a policy stating in part that “given the time-sensitive nature of the procedure, pregnancy termination will not require unit commander pre-approval.” At the same time, the Army said soldiers would have to keep their commanders notified of expected absences. The Air Force adopted a similar policy in June 2021.
Sgt. Major of the Army Michael Grinston told a House appropriations subcommittee on May 12 that the Army was drafting policies to take care of service members “in an appropriate way” in response to the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade. Ultimately, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth would have to sign off on these directives.
In a letter addressed to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a group of Democrats on the Senate Armed Services committee urged him to enact policies that would allow service members to obtain special permission to travel out of state for abortions.
VanLandingham argued that abortion access is necessary for morale.
“I’m hoping that the military can do this in a mature, sensitive way. And why? Because they need to retain their women,” she told The Hill. “Women are an integral part of the force. And if this is all going to jeopardize their morale and readiness within the military then that’s a national security problem.”
The Pentagon’s top spokesman, John Kirby, said in early May that “the health and well-being of our men and women are paramount concerns of Department leadership.”
From abortions to drag queen story times to lectures on “white rage,” the military increasingly appears to be more concerned with promulgating “social justice” than it is with national defense.
