John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, defended the Department of Defense’s policy guaranteeing abortion access for female military personnel calling it “a foundational sacred obligation.”
“[O]ur policies, whether they are diversity, inclusion, and equity, whether they’re about transgender individuals who qualify, physically and mentally, to service, to be able to do it with dignity, or whether it is about female service members – one in five – or female family members being able to count on the kinds of healthcare, reproductive care specifically, that they need to serve, that is a foundational sacred obligation of military leaders across the river,” Kirby told Phil Wegmann of RealClearPolitics during Monday’s press briefing.
The exchange comes just days after the House narrowly passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sought to rewrite the Pentagon’s policy protecting abortion access for all female soldiers instituted after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
Pressure has been similarly mounting in the Senate through Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.), who has stalled the confirmation of military promotions in the chamber to pressure the White House to abandon its abortion policy.
“I’d be willing to talk to him if I thought there was any possibility he would change his ridiculous position on this. He’s jeopardizing US security with what he’s doing,” President Joe Biden said during a press conference last Thursday in Helsinki, Finland.
“This is not about abortion. This is about tax-payer funded abortion that Congress NEVER authorized,” Tuberville tweeted on Monday afternoon in response to an op-ed by Senator Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) condemning the Alabaman’s obstruction of promotions.
Kirby appeared to swipe at Tuberville and his home state during the briefing.
“What if you’re assigned to a state like Alabama? Which has a pretty restrictive abortion law in place. And you’re concerned about your reproductive care.” the spokesman asked. “What do you do? Do you say no and get out? Some people may decide to do that. And what does that mean? That means we lose talent, important talent.”
“It is just the right darn thing to do for people who raise their hand and agree to serve in the military,” Kirby concluded.