Military service members seeking an abortion may be granted travel allowances and up to three weeks of paid leave to terminate their pregnancies under a new Defense Department policy announced on Feb. 16.
Under the new policy, which takes effect within the next month, service members will have up until 20 weeks gestation to notify their commanders of their pregnancy status.
While noting that service members may need to disclose certain health information for their requests to be authorized, the policy states that those seeking “non-covered reproductive health care services” may be granted an administrative absence of up to 21 days of paid administrative leave and, where required, “allowances” for travel and transportation.
“Non-covered reproductive health care includes non-covered abortion and Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), which includes, but is not limited to, egg retrieval, IUI, and IVF,” the policy specifies.
For the travel allowances to apply, the service member must be unable to obtain “timely access” to the non-covered services within the local area of their permanent duty station, temporary duty location, or the last location they were transported on government orders.
Additionally, if a service member or eligible dependent is unable to travel alone for the procedure, travel costs for an escort or attendant may also be covered.
The policy does not cover the cost of the abortion procedure itself.
The new policy follows an Oct. 20 memo from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directing the department to create a policy that “allows for appropriate administrative absence” for the non-covered services and “establish travel and transportation allowances for service members and their dependents.”
In issuing the directive, Austin held that the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022 ruling that abortion is not a constitutional right had “impacted access to reproductive health care with readiness, recruiting, and retention implications” for the military.
“The practical effects of recent changes are that significant numbers of service members and their families may be forced to travel greater distances, take more time off from work, and pay more out of pocket expenses to receive reproductive health care,” he wrote at the time.
“I am committed to the Department taking all appropriate action, within its authority and consistent with applicable federal law, as soon as possible to ensure that our service members and their families can access reproductive health care and our health care providers can operate effectively,” he added.
On Thursday, however, Republicans criticized the new policy, with some wondering what message it would send to U.S. military members.
“When the Pentagon pays for your travel and gives you three weeks of paid leave to have an abortion, could women serving in the military reasonably hear the message as ‘we really don’t want any of you to get pregnant, and if you do, we really, REALLY want you to have an abortion’?” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wondered on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Alabama’s Republican Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, condemned the move as an effort by the Biden administration to turn the Defense Department into an “abortion travel agency.”
“As I have repeatedly told the political leaders of this administration, taking this action jeopardizes congressional authorizations for our warfighters,” Rogers said in a statement. “I am extremely disappointed the Biden administration chose once again to use our military to placate the radical left.”