For months, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has been blocking defense nominees until the Department of Defense (DOD) reverses its decision to fund abortion tourism. Tuberville has been roundly criticized among pro-abortion ideologues, but a new take has recently emerged: that Tuberville should stop his blockade because the abortion policy would “only” cost the DOD around $1 million per year. This, of course, fundamentally misses the point.
An analysis published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examined the effect last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision — which overturned Roe v. Wade — had on service members. The average time women travel for abortions, for example, increased from an average of 40 minutes to 227 minutes. It further estimated that 700 and 900 servicewomen should expect to travel more than 50 minutes for an abortion, which would cost approximately $1 million out of the Military Health System’s $50 billion 2023 budget.
Of course, the reason Tuberville objects to the DOD policy has absolutely nothing to do with money. It’s because the policy is, effectively, using taxpayer dollars to support abortion, something to which the majority of Americans object. And every single induced abortion is the intentional taking of a preborn human life. Even if the policy cost no money, it would still be unethical and immoral.
READ: Veterans sign letter supporting blockage of military nominees over abortion policy
As Tuberville previously explained, “As six states and the District of Columbia have no abortion restrictions, your policy would force taxpayers to finance access to abortions without protections other states have duly enacted such as waiting periods and prohibitions on late-term abortions. Like me, many Americans find abortions morally repugnant.”
Last year, the Biden administration mandated that Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals must commit abortions, even in pro-life states where preborn children are otherwise protected. Defenders of the policy claim it isn’t paying for the abortions themselves — it’s paying for the “travel.” As CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins claimed, “So, they’re not directly paying for abortions. They say they’re doing that because if a servicemember, they don’t get to decide where they’re stationed. If they’re stationed in Alabama, they have no choice but to have to travel, to make that decision.”
In a speech delivered earlier this month, Tuberville vowed to keep standing for life. “The Pentagon is now paying for travel and extra time off for service members and their dependents to get abortions. Congress never voted for this. We also never appropriated the money for this. There is no law that allows them to do this. In fact, there is a law that says they can’t do this,” he said, adding:
This is about life. And it’s also about the rule of law. It’s about our Constitution. It’s about whether we make laws at the Pentagon or whether we follow the Constitution. … I cannot simply sit idly by while the Biden Administration injects politics in our military, again, injects politics in our military from the White House, and spends taxpayers’ dollars on abortion.
