The Department of Defense has announced it will pay for service members to travel to get abortions following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revealed this in a memo to Pentagon leadership on Thursday, which establishes additional privacy protections and looks to improve service members’ awareness of these resources.
RUSSIA CONTINUES ATTACKS ON KYIV WITH IRANIAN ‘KAMIKAZE’ DRONES
The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision has “readiness, recruiting, and retention implications for the force,” the secretary wrote, calling for the military to “establish travel and transportation allowances for service members and dependents … to access non-covered reproductive health care that is unavailable within the local area of a service member’s permanent duty station.”
Additionally, Austin directed the department to “establish additional privacy protections for reproductive health care information, including standardizing and extending the time Service members have to fulfill their obligation to notify commanders of a pregnancy to no later than 20 weeks unless specific requirements to report sooner,” bars Pentagon healthcare professionals from providing health information unless there is a specific exception, for commanders to “display objectivity and discretion,” and to help healthcare providers, specifically those who “are subject to adverse action, including civil or criminal penalties or loss of license or reprimand.”
<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1666292079119,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016b-0e59-daea-a7ff-0f5fee2e0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1666292079119,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016b-0e59-daea-a7ff-0f5fee2e0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_64855243", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1110449"} }); rn","_id":"00000183-f6bf-da74-a1bf-febf54370000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedWhile the Pentagon hopes to protect service members’ privacy, officials recognized that transparency is necessary from them.
“In so far as the administrative absence and travel allowance as we develop those policies, the goal is to also provide additional privacy in making those decisions,” a defense official told reporters. “But in doing so, we recognize that we may need to have a little bit of information about why they may need to take those programs, but it may just be with respect to healthcare and reproductive healthcare without necessarily providing details.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Before the Supreme Court’s ruling, and it remains true following their decision, Pentagon medical officials are permitted to perform abortions in the case of rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is at risk.
Austin’s memo came after a review of “current policies and procedures to assess the impact of the Dobbs decision,” and the “Secretary often has made clear, nothing is more important than the health and well-being of our people,” a U.S. defense official told reporters on the condition of anonymity.
