A majority of Senate Republicans support legislation that would prohibit the Pentagon from compensating military personnel for traveling across state lines to obtain abortions.
The legislation, introduced this week by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, already has the backing of 35 other GOP senators, a sign of growing support among Republicans to end the Department of Defense’s controversial policy that would week comes into effect.
The directive comes in response to the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Roe v. Wade, which gave states the power to regulate abortion. Since that ruling, the Biden administration and Congressional Democrats have pursued policies aimed at making it easier for women in states with strict abortion laws to travel to states with more permissive laws.
PENTAGON BANNED FROM FUNDING ABORTION TRIPS FOR SERVICE MEMBERS UNDER GOP BILL
Sen. Joni Ernst was joined by 35 other Senate Republicans on a bill aimed at ending the Pentagon’s policy of subsidizing abortion-related travel for military personnel. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Pentagon policy was a step in that direction, proposing that military personnel be given time off and reimbursed for travel expenses if they wished to request abortions in other states. But Ernst said this week that the Department of Defense has no legal authority to support abortions in this way.
“The Pentagon should not be mobilized against the unborn. The Department of Defense exists to defend life, not to destroy it,” Ernst said in a statement. “Biden’s Department of Defense policy is not only unlawful, it is immoral.”
Ernst added that the Hyde Amendment — supported by Congress for decades, which bans the use of federal funds for abortions — should also ban the Pentagon’s policy decision. “I will continue to make sure the unborn and your tax dollars are protected,” she said.
GOP SENATOR HOLDS BIDENS DOD NOMINEES ABOUT PENTAGON’S NEW ABORTION POLICY
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is under fire from Republicans over his proposal to reimburse military personnel for abortion-related travel expenses. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images)
The legislation follows the introduction of a House bill this month by Texas GOP Reps Ronny Jackson and Chip Roy, who now have 43 Republican co-sponsors.
Ernst’s bill states that it is Congress’s intention that the Department of Defense “shall not use funds for abortions except in a case where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or where pregnancy is the result.” by is rape or incest.”
It notes that the Department of Defense has “no legal authority” to implement its memo, which is in “direct conflict” with federal law and Congressional intent.
PENTAGON OFFERS TRAVEL FOR SERVICE MEMBERS WHO RECEIVE ABORTION PLUS PAID TIME OFF
Democrats and pro-choice activists have backed a range of measures to help women cross state lines to obtain abortions. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)
The bill ends the Pentagon memo and creates new federal law that specifically prohibits the Department of Defense from providing transportation, housing, meals or other travel-related expenses to service members “who seek an abortion or an abortion-related service,” except in cases of rape , incest or the mother’s life.
It also clarifies that abortion-related travel cannot be justified as “unusual, exceptional, hardship, or emergency” circumstances warranting approved travel for a service member.
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Ernst’s bill is supported by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and most other GOP members on that committee.
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