The Pentagon recently decided to change a policy that blocked abortion-related content from showing on its servers, lifting a ban that had been in place since 2010.
Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Gordan, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Military Times that the decision was made in early June, prior to the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, but after the leaked draft that showed Roe‘s likely undoing. “We determined in early June that we should absolutely allow content categorized as abortion (to be accessible on Department of Defense networks) based on the healthcare aspects related to the category,” he said.
Gordon told The Hill that the ban on abortion-related content had previously been in place due to bandwidth issues on the server.
“We are working our way through all DOD networks now to ensure that restriction is lifted uniformly,” he said. “Further, we are updating our broader policy to ensure consistency and access to appropriate information for the DoD workforce.”
This reverse in policy, as well as the categorization of abortion as routine healthcare, fits with the military’s current response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. On June 24, the day Roe was overturned, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austen released a statement. “I am committed to taking care of our people and ensuring the readiness and resilience of our force,” he said. “The Department is examining this decision closely and evaluating our policies to ensure we continue to provide seamless access to reproductive health care as permitted by federal law.”
In making sure that abortion information is easier than ever to access, the Pentagon and military leaders are only continuing to push the falsehood that abortion is healthcare that must be readily available to troops when in reality, what pregnant servicewomen need is support for both them and their preborn child.
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Servicewomen have previously spoken out about the pressure they often feel to have abortions in the military. As Live Action News has previously reported, the current policy at military academies is that students cannot have dependents; this means that women who get pregnant (and men who father a child) must either abort their child or drop out.
“The unspoken code is that a good soldier will have an abortion, continue the mission, and get some sympathy because she chose duty over motherhood. But for the woman who chooses motherhood over duty, well, she must have been trying to get out of deployment,” wrote Bethany Saros in an essay for Salon.
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