Trump picks outspoken veteran Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense

Trump’s cabinet picks have been dominating headlines for the past week or so. One pick that should be interesting to pro-lifers is that of Pete Hegseth, who was recently tapped to be Secretary of Defense. Hegseth has been a Fox News host since 2014, where he has made his pro-life views widely known.

Prior to that role, he was commissioned as an Infantry Officer in the Minnesota National Guard in 2003 and served tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. In 2014 he left active duty service for the Army Reserves, and in 2019 he rejoined the National Guard as a reservist. After serving in Afghanistan, he also briefly served as CEO of Concerned Veterans for America. 

While serving in the National Guard in January 2021, his unit removed him from his position at the Presidential Inauguration after being falsely accused of being a white supremacist when a post on Twitter (now “X”) confused the famous Jerusalem cross, a widely-recognized symbol across Christendom worldwide, with other symbols that have been appropriated by white supremacy groups. Since that incident, Hegseth has been a passionate advocate against “wokism” in the military.

If confirmed, it is widely expected that Hegseth will push for major reforms in the Department of Defense. But pro-lifers want to know: How will he address the pro-abortion policies implemented during the previous administration? 

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Hegseth’s pro-life beliefs have been on display during his tenure at Fox News. In an opening monologue after the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, Hegseth hailed the decision and criticized Roe. He described the former as “the landmark decision that has led to the abortion of at least 62 million innocent American babies since 1973. A generational genocide of America’s unborn. Now worshiped by the left as a savior for women, for far too long, Roe v. Wade seemed untouchable. Just 10 years ago, with Obama in the White House and a Supreme Court stacked with pro-choice justices, this day, it felt very far off. Until now, because of the endless efforts of pro-life groups, activists, educators, mothers.” 

The Department of Defense has implemented significant pro-abortion policies since 2022, as part of the Biden administration’s whole-of-government response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In October 2022, the current incumbent Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced a new policy to cover the abortions and abortion travel of military members and dependents and cleverly structured the funding to subvert the Hyde Amendment, a federal rider meant to prevent federal taxpayer funds from subsidizing abortion. 

Secretary Austin stunningly described the lack of abortions for service members as an “emergency,” which would affect military readiness and recruitment. Their responses have been more or less emblematic of the attitude of leaders towards the policy, even as veterans and Hegseth’s own advocacy group (after he left) vehemently opposed the policy, and Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama blocked the promotions of military brass for nearly a year in protest of the policy.  

Hegseth blasted the policy in his book, “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free” – a fact that might offer clues as to how he could approach the issue when he becomes Secretary of Defense. 

“When the Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade in the summer of 2022,” Hegseth wrote, “the Biden administration frothed into a panic and took steps to work around the near forty-year moratorium on government-funded abortions at both the VA and the Department of Defense. […] The VA contends that female veterans with PTSD are more likely to have issue or complex pregnancies, higher rates of gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia. So you are probably better off just, you know, aborting them.”

Hegseth further points out that offering abortion to female service members as a way to bolster flagging retention rates was something for which female members of the military were not clamoring, and misses the point of providing the kind of support and mental health care that they actually wanted. 

In all, Hegseth’s outspoken advocacy for life, together with his strong critique of the Biden administration’s pro-abortion policies, offer pro-lifers – and especially those who serve in the military – reasons to hope for pro-life policies in the future Department of Defense under Hegseth. 

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