The Department of Defense’s policy on remibursing abortion-related travel costs impacts both recruitment and retention, the White House argued on Monday.
DOD’s policy, which includes paying for the travel expenses incurred for a service member or dependent who needs to travel out of state for an abortion due to local laws, has generated controversy on Capitol Hill.
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“It can have an extremely, extremely significant impact on our recruiting and retention. Not to mention it's just the right darn thing to do for people that raise their hand and agreed to serve in the military,” National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Monday.
Kirby, a retired navy admiral, called the military’s responsibility to its service members “a foundational sacred obligation” and said that means they “have every right to expect that the organization, in this case, the military, is going to take care of you, they're going to take care of your families, and they're going to make sure that you can serve with dignity and respect no matter who you are, who you love, or how you worship or don’t.”
DOD initiated this policy months ago in response to the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade and the subsequent passage of restrictive abortion laws in more conservative states. It spurred almost immediate criticism from conservatives who argued it violates federal law that prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has held up Pentagon nominations and promotions due to the policy for nearly six months. He's held up roughly 260 such promotions, and that number could reach 650 by the end of the year, DOD officials have warned. The Marine Corps is currently being led by an acting commandant due to Tuberville's hold, and several other Joint Chiefs openings will be coming up in the fall.
"What happens if you get assigned to a state like Alabama, which has a pretty restrictive abortion law in place, and you're concerned about your reproductive care? What do you do? Do you say no and get out? Well, some people may decide to do that," Kirby explained. "And what does that mean? That means we lose talent, important talent, and we're an all-volunteer force. Recruiting is tough enough as it is with a very strong economy out there. We want to keep the people that we get, and we want to make sure that they can continue to serve."
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The House of Representatives voted last week to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets policy for the Pentagon and authorizes $886 billion in spending for national defense. It included an amendment to revoke the Pentagon's policy and pushed House Democrats to nearly unanimously vote against it.
Senate Democrats, which have the majority, will all but certainly not include such an amendment in their own version of the bill, setting up both chambers to compromise as they merge the bills into one to send to President Joe Biden's desk.