Tuberville Pledges Hold on DoD Nominations if Department Proceeds with Abortion Policy Change
U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) today announced his intent to place a hold on all future U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) civilian and general flag officer nominees should the department choose to move forward with a planned policy change to fund travel and paid time off for service members and their dependents seeking an abortion. The announcement from Senator Tuberville comes in response to his office being briefed by Department of Defense officials on the policy change earlier in the week. By covering travel expenses and paid time off, Senator Tuberville believes the DoD is blatantly flouting the law.
In a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Senator Tuberville wrote, “On Wednesday, 7 December, my staff received a brief from the (acting) Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and learned that you plan to implement these changes by year’s end. The brief also revealed estimates of how your plan will expand the number of abortions subsidized by the DoD. The estimates are as exponential as they are immoral.”
“This vast expansion of DoD-subsidized abortions is made worse by how your plan will provide unrestricted access to abortion…” he continued. “When questioned on these issues, the department could not provide analysis or estimates of how this policy change will impact its budget, readiness, and manpower. It is irresponsible to push forward with such a controversial change to department policy without thorough due diligence on how this will impact the readiness of the force.”
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