President Donald Trump recently reversed a Biden administration policy forcing taxpayers to cover travel expenses for servicemembers seeking abortions.
On January 24, Trump signed an executive order revoking two of former President Joe Biden’s orders that sought to circumvent federal law banning taxpayer funding of abortion. The order reads:
For nearly five decades, the Congress has annually enacted the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent Federal funding of elective abortion, reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice. However, the previous administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.
It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.
The following Tuesday, the Department of Defense rescinded its 2023 policy of paying the travel expenses of servicemembers and their dependents who desire abortions but are stationed in states that have restricted the practice.
In a Friday press release, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who fought the policy by putting a hold on military promotions, praised Trump’s order and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s acting on it:
For the past two years, I have been sounding the alarm about the Pentagon’s illegal and immoral practice of using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. I took a lot of heat when I stood alone for nearly a year in holding senior Pentagon promotions over this — but as of today, it was all worth it.
The Biden administration treated taxpayers like their own personal piggy bank that they could use to bankroll their woke agenda. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth affirmed today what I’ve been fighting for since I got to Washington: zero taxpayer dollars should go towards abortions.
Acts Evasion
The abortion-travel policy was enacted as part of Biden’s attempts to counteract the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
It was also an obvious attempt to skirt federal law, which states that Defense Department funds “may not be used to perform abortions” except in rare cases.
The Biden administration tried to claim it was adhering to the letter, albeit not the spirit, of the law.
“It’s not an abortion policy,” a Pentagon spokeswoman said in 2023. “The Department does not have an abortion policy. We have a healthcare policy and we have a travel policy that allows for our service members to take advantage of healthcare that should be accessible to them.”
Pro-life Republicans saw through the ruse. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing, Representative Mike Johnson (R-La.) told then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “I get that you’re trying to find a crafty workaround, but it’s a blatant violation” of the law.
Before the policy was even enacted, Tuberville notified the Pentagon that he would place a hold on military promotions in response to it, meaning that the Senate had to vote on each promotion individually instead of in large blocks. Austin proceeded with the policy, and Tuberville responded as promised. He maintained the hold for 11 months in the face of enormous pressure from lawmakers of both parties, dropping it for all but four-star generals only when then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) threatened to change Senate rules to stymie Tuberville’s tactics.
Chip Shot
“This is an important move from Secretary Hegseth and President Trump to right the myriad wrongs of the Biden administration; the American people never should have had to cover the tab for abortion tourism in the military,” Representative Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in a statement lauding Trump’s policy change.
“Senator Tuberville especially deserves commendation for his efforts to fight it and for standing up to the immense pressure he faced in the process,” he added.
The congressman called on his fellow legislators to “codify this change into law permanently.” Otherwise, as with so many other changes Trump has made by executive order, it may just as easily be undone by the next President. Then taxpayers, including those who oppose abortion, will once more be on the hook for an estimated $1 million in travel expenses for as many as 4,100 abortions every year.
Policy Poopers
Democrats, who want universal abortion-on-demand at taxpayer expense, are up in arms that Trump would dare to force servicemembers to pay their own abortion-travel costs.
Nineteen Senate Democrats led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) issued a press release Thursday saying:
This decision strips away service members’ ability to access the reproductive care they need, which is nothing short of abhorrent. It runs contrary to a core goal of the Department of Defense — to ensure the health and wellbeing of all our service members so that our force remains ready at all times to protect Americans and keep this nation safe.
Likewise, Representative Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) said in a statement, “We ask our servicewomen to put their lives on the line while serving across the globe to protect our country — they shouldn’t have to risk their lives while stationed in a state with severe abortion bans like Texas or Florida.” Never mind that very few abortions are carried out to save women’s lives and that even the most abortion-restrictive states permit such procedures.
Both Shaheen and Sherrill have previously sponsored legislation to make the Biden policy permanent.
For now, though, the policy that protects both taxpayers and the unborn is the law of the land.
