Pentagon strips take a trip repayment for soldiers looking for abortions, fertility treatment

WASHINGTON (AP)– The Defense Department will no longer repay service members for travel out of state to get reproductive healthcare, consisting of abortions and fertility treatments, according to a brand-new memo.

The instruction signed today removes a seldom utilized Biden administration policy enacted in October 2022, after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade and more states started to enforce increased abortion limitations.

Signed on Wednesday by Jeffrey Register, the director of the Pentagon’s personnels department, the memo just reveals red lines deleting the previous policy and provides no other assistance.

Asked if service members would still be enabled time off to take a trip at their own cost, the department had no instant response.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the policy modification “outrageous.”

“Our service members go any place they require to in order to fearlessly serve our nation– and since President Trump’s extremist Supreme Court reversed Roe, where they and their households are stationed rather actually determines their access to vital reproductive care,” Warren stated in a declaration. “Now, Trump is turning his back on our servicemembers– and our servicewomen in specific– to score political points. It’s outrageous, and will just make our soldiers and our country less safe.”

Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set up the policy in October 2022 to make sure that soldiers who were designated to states where abortions or other kinds of healthcare such as IVF treatment were no longer supplied might still access those services.

The Defense Department on Friday was not able to state the number of times the compensation policy was utilized, or the expenses. Last March, authorities stated it had actually been utilized by service members or their dependents simply 12 times from June to December 2023. And the overall expense was approximately $40,000 to cover transport, accommodations and meals.

The policy did not cover the expense of abortions, and it’s unclear the number of the 12 journeys were for abortions or other kind of reproductive healthcare, such as IVF treatment. That particular medical info is safeguarded by health personal privacy law.

In his memo at the time, Austin stated service members and their households were stressed they might not get equivalent access to healthcare, consisting of abortions. And he kept in mind that service members who frequently should move for numerous objectives or training would be required to take a trip further, take more time off work and pay more to gain access to reproductive healthcare.

The issue, Austin stated, would develop remarkable difficulty and “disrupt our capability to hire, maintain, and keep the preparedness of an extremely certified force.”

He purchased the department to enable soldiers and dependents, constant with federal law, to require time off and utilize main travel to get to other states for reproductive care not offered in your area. That care consists of in vitro fertilization and other pregnancy help that likewise might not be available nearby.

Under federal law, Defense Department medical centers can carry out abortions just when the life of the pregnant individual is at threat or in cases of rape or incest, and those circumstances have actually been incredibly uncommon. According to the department, there were 91 abortions carried out in military medical centers in between 2016 and 2021.