The cruel twist harms women in the military

The Pentagon Doesn’t Control Abortion: A Commentary on U.S. Supreme Court Decisions on the Right to Abort

A senior US senator from Colorado is Michael Bennet, a Democrat. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinions on it.

The new Pentagon policies were released in response to a Supreme Court ruling in June which removed the federal right to an abortion. In the wake of the decision, around a dozen states enacted so-called “trigger laws” which severely restricted abortion access. Many of the states have large military populations.

The number of women enlisting in the military has grown significantly over time. They now represent a fifth of our force and a third of our civilian workforce. But when women volunteer for active duty, they, like any other service member, don’t choose where to serve. The Pentagon decides that.

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Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 18 states have rushed to ban or limit abortion access. Even for rape or incest, there are no exceptions. Meanwhile, radical state legislators have introduced bills restricting the freedom of women to travel from one state to another for reproductive care. And several states – from Iowa to Nebraska – have only begun to chip away at a woman’s right to choose.

Texas, home to Fort Hood – one of the largest military bases in the US, has posted $10,000 bounties for residents who successfully sue anyone who has helped in accessing or performing an abortion after it is no longer legal.

Alabama, home to six military bases, has threatened doctors and nurses with up to 99 years in jail for performing an abortion. The state’s attorney general even suggested using a chemical endangerment law – which is designed to protect kids from meth – to prosecute women for ending their pregnancies with a medication abortion pill.

In Florida, which is home to 21 military bases, Gov. Ron DeSantis just endorsed a six-week abortion ban. He may be unaware – or may not even care – that a third of women don’t even know they’re pregnant until around six weeks.

“[O]ne in five of our troops are women,” Austin told Tuberville. “And they don’t get a chance to choose where they’re stationed, so almost 80,000 of our women are stationed in places where they don’t have access to non-covered reproductive healthcare. The policy is based on a strong legal ground after I heard from our troops, our senior leaders, our chiefs and our secretaries.

Dobbs, Abortion, and Pregnancies: Restoring our Preparedness and defending the Freedom of Service Women

According to the study by RAND Corporation, Dobbs could harm military recruiting and increase attrition. The Pentagon just had its worst recruiting year since the Vietnam War.

The third policy gives service members more time before they must tell their commanding officer they’re pregnant, providing women in uniform more space and privacy to decide if they want to carry a pregnancy to term – a decision that’s become a lot more complicated after Dobbs.

For example, the Pentagon is now considering whether to move the US Space Command from Colorado, which protects abortion access, to Alabama, which criminalizes it. When the Pentagon makes basing decisions, like this, some of the factors it considers include number of available parking spaces, housing affordability and area construction costs.

What’s not on the list? Doctors who perform abortion are imprisoned by the state, or turned into bounty hunters against women.

Nine months after Dobbs it can be easy to feel powerless as one state after another takes aim at the right to choose. One specific way that Biden could hold the line is to strengthen our readiness and defend the freedom of service women who are paid to defend us.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin argued against criticisms from Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Tuesday and implored him to support the department’s officer nominations, which Tuberville has vowed to block until Austin reverses his stance on policies supporting service members seeking abortions.

“Not approving the recommendation for promotions actually creates a ripple effect through the force that makes us far less ready than we need to be,” Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

Tuberville has said he would hold up Defense Department nominations for flag and general officers until Austin “rescinds or suspends” the new policies, which largely focus on providing support for service members who have to travel out of state for care – including abortions and other non-covered reproductive health care like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intrauterine insemination (IUI).

“The effects are cumulative, and it will effect families,” Austin added of the delay, “it will effect kids going to schools because they won’t be able to change their duty station, and so it’s a powerful effect and will impact on our readiness.”

There were tense moments in Tuesday’s hearing, including Austin’s exchange with Tuberville. The Pentagon notification of activity in Syria last week was accused of being too late by some lawmakers after a facility housing US personnel was attacked and killed.

A suspected Iranian drone hit the coalition maintenance facility at 1:38 p.m. local time in Syria on March 23, which is 6:38 a.m. eastern time, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said last week.

Retaliatory strikes from the US were authorized by President Joe Biden later that day, and carried out on facilities associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at 7:40 p.m. eastern time.

Lawmakers have said that they were notified about the original attack and the US response that evening with congressional aides telling CNN the notification was communicated around the time of the retaliatory US strike.

Austin said the department notified Congress of both instances at the same time, because of the short period of time between the initial attack and the US strike. Austin conceded to committee Ranking Member Sen. Roger Wicker that the Pentagon “should have notified you earlier,” and said they would do “everything within our power to make sure that we improve our performance.”

John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said that time was compressed when the administration notified Congress.

“Secretary Austin, I don’t believe you,” Cotton said. “I believe that your office specifically withheld notification of this deadly strike against Americans because the Rubio amendment, on which we voted midday, directly touched on exactly this scenario, not repealing these use of force resolutions if the president couldn’t certify that Iran was no longer attacking us in Iran and Syria that’s what I believe. Nothing will change my belief about that.

“The chairman and I were testifying that morning as well, so as soon as we came out of testimony we began working on crafting response options,” Austin told Cotton.