Congress is hotly debating what the Department of Defense’s policies should be regarding abortion — including seven women lawmakers who served in the military.
On one side, Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA), and Jen Kiggans (R-VA) all voted in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, and before that, an amendment that, if signed into law, would require the department end its current policy of reimbursing service members’ or their dependents’ travel expenses incurred should they need to travel out of state due to local restrictive laws for an abortion.
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While the department’s policy has been active for months, debates over it reached new heights this week, with House Republicans ultimately voting to include its repeal in the must-pass defense authorization bill.
Luna spoke on the House floor on Thursday, arguing the current policy would harm readiness if allowed to continue unabated. The Democratic women veterans in the House, Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), who voted against the NDAA with objections to the abortion amendment, believe the opposite is true.
Sherrill said the near complete GOP support for the attaching of this amendment “was shocking to me … especially given what I was hearing from members across the aisle who I thought would vote against the amendment,” according to Talking Points Memo.
“Rep. Houlahan has encouraged women and all Americans to join our armed forces throughout her life because she believes our country is stronger when our military reflects the diversity of our nation,” Aubrey Stuber, a spokeswoman for Houlahan, told the Washington Examiner. “At the same time, Rep. Houlahan is deeply concerned that if Republicans pass this policy, women in uniform and military families will have less access to reproductive care than when she wore the uniform decades ago.”
“The national security implications are clear as day,” Stuber continued. “We must ask ourselves if women will want to join an institution that doesn’t respect their right to reproductive care, regardless of whether they choose to access that care one day. Rep. Houlahan believes that women will not want to raise their right hand as a result, which degrades our military readiness during historic recruitment challenges.”
The Senate still has to pass its own version of the NDAA, and the Democratic majority will all but assuredly not include this provision, setting up a tough battle for when both chambers have to come together to merge them.
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There are two women veterans in the Senate — Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) — and they are on opposite sides of the debate. Ernst has already sought to get this amendment added to the Senate’s version of the bill.
“The Pentagon should not be mobilized against the unborn. The Department of Defense exists to defend innocent life, not destroy it,” Ernst told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Biden DoD’s policy is not just unlawful, it’s immoral. Congress has been clear; the Hyde Amendment protects taxpayers from being forced to fund abortions. I will continue to ensure the unborn and your tax dollars are protected.”
