There's almost certainly going to be more complaining from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday as he speaks with senators during a briefing addressing the Pentagon's abortion policy. Austin, like other members of the Biden administration, including President Joe Biden himself, have gone after Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for his hold on military promotions. For several months now, Tuberville has held the line as he not only takes a stand for life but the rule of law. The Pentagon's policy is in violation of 10 U.S.C. 1093, which dictates that abortion can only be funded in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the mother. Under the Pentagon's current policy, though, service members and their dependents receive paid time off for abortions and for travel if they have to travel out of state.
BREAKING from @SenTuberville spokesman. #alpolitics
— Yaffee (@Yaffee) July 18, 2023
At approximately 5:45 PM ET Senator Tuberville spoke by phone with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Coach is grateful for another cordial conversation with the Secretary. The Secretary and the Senator discussed tomorrow’s…
Tuberville spoke with Austin on Tuesday night, just as he had done last week. The denigrations still keep coming though, including from Austin himself.
When asked during a Tuesday press conference if he was "prepared to meet [Tuberville] halfway," Austin answered in part by declaring that because female service members are "sacrificing each and every day... they deserve, in my view and in the view of our leadership... to have access to non-covered reproductive healthcare."
Austin also emphasized how the holds supposedly amounts to "a readiness issue," and that it "creates friction throughout the entire chain" and "disadvantages families," as he once again asked Tuberville "to lift his hold," giving no indication he would "meet him halfway."
The secretary also offered that "I would imagine our adversaries would look at something like this and be pretty happy that we create this kind of turbulence within our force."
Defense Secretary Austin: Paying for service members' travel to obtain abortions is "a readiness issue."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 18, 2023
"I would imagine our adversaries would look at something like this and be and be pretty happy that we create this kind of turbulence within our force." pic.twitter.com/DaqrwC1Bb3
That last point from Austin in particular is especially curious, considering that one could just as easily argue that the woke military, which the Biden administration has been responsible for politicizing, is what makes our enemies "pretty happy," especially when it comes to a crisis of readiness, due to prioritizing the wrong issues.
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Such was a point that Tuberville himself made while speaking to the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins.
"What's causing [military] readiness to have a problem is the woke policies that [the Biden] Administration is pushing."@SenTuberville w/ an update on NDAA provisions to rid the military of the weak and woke policies of the Biden administration.https://t.co/9eBvLjUGmL pic.twitter.com/LfTbyX5rSj
— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) July 18, 2023
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who has been a vocal supporter of Tuberville, said during his "Fox News Sunday" interview that it with Biden and Austin who have politicized the military. "If the secretary of Defense and the president think this is a readiness issue and they want to find the responsible party, they should look in the mirror," he offered, since "they’re the ones who are violating the law and using taxpayer funds to pay for abortion tourism."
WATCH: @SenTomCotton joins the show to discuss the fight on Capitol Hill over the NDAA and American military readiness amid concerns about ammunition shortages. Tune in! pic.twitter.com/LqgWCDndkg
— Fox News Sunday (@FoxNewsSunday) July 16, 2023
Austin wasn't the only one to go after Tuberville, though. Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby did so during Monday's White House press briefing as well. The briefing had started off with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre going on the attack against Tuberville.
Upon being asked "why is the new DOD policy on abortion critical to military readiness," Kirby began by emphasizing "I’m really glad you asked that question." In his response, he, like Austin, treated women service members as a monolithic group, as if they all prioritized having abortion access made easier by the American taxpayer.
Part of Kirby's response entailed how abortion is "care" that the military can be expected to provide, something he later claimed the military "owe[s]" women in return for serving.
"When you sign up and you make that contract, you have every right to expect that the organization — in this case, the military — is going to take care of you, and they’re going to take care of your families, and they’re going to make sure that you can serve with dignity and respect no matter who you are or who you love or how you worship or don’t," he offered.
He also claimed that women service or family members need to be "able to count on the kinds of healthcare and reproductive care specifically that they need to serve," which he referred to as "a foundational, sacred obligation of military leaders across the river."
Another part of the rant involved how the ability to have an abortion or not is supposedly "a retention and a morale issue," because service members might leave the military rather than being sent to a pro-life state like Alabama, if "they're concerned about... reproductive care."
Kirby, who has made some laughable points as of late--including about the Secret Service investigation into who brought cocaine into the White House--offered that "recruiting is tough enough as it is with a very strong economy out there." While he was correct in that "recruiting is tough," it's not because the economy is "very strong."
To end his rant, Kirby warned that the policy "can have an extremely, extremely significant impact on our recruiting and retention," claiming that taxpayers providing paid time off for an abortion and travel expenses is "just the darn right thing to do."
John Kirby goes on a minutes-long tirade trying to explain why abortion is necessary for military readiness. pic.twitter.com/o0ry8lHjNx
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 17, 2023
Cotton appeared once more on Fox News on Tuesday night, to speak to Laura Ingraham about Kirby's comments, after Ingraham herself pointed out that Kirby "didn't commit one-tenth of emotional output" to other key issues as he did to abortion, "calling it one of the most appearances by John Kirby I have ever seen," specifically as he referred to abortion as "sacred."
Both Cotton and Ingraham called to mind how the excerpts played on air were just parts of his three-minute rant, or, as Cotton put it, Kirby's "ode to abortion," reminding that these are elective abortions.
In comparison, as Cotton pointed out, service members who experience death in the family deal with stricter policies.
Cotton also reminded Ingraham of the richness of accusations that Republicans are the ones trying to politicize the military, as Ingraham herself expressed concern about this "existential threat to the military" when it comes to promoting abortion and having taxpaying Americans pay for it.
The senator expressed optimism for the NDAA that passed the House defunding woke military policies, including to do with abortion, which he hopes will find its way into the final version. Ingraham was particularly passionate about how Americans "are not going to put up with" paying for such priorities.
Polling shows that 60 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer dollars going towards elective abortions, and the Hyde Amendment is supposed to be in place to offer such protections.
Tuberville and his office have responded to the attacks with consistent narratives. In pointing out that at an estimated least 4,100 women each year could be seeking an abortion, which doesn't include their dependents, the senator noted that the "radical" policy is "illegal and immoral."
The @RANDCorporation study commissioned by the @DeptofDefense found the number of active-duty service women who seek abortions to be up to 4,100 per year.
— Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) July 17, 2023
This estimate doesn’t include dependents, which the DoD policy covers.
This radical policy is both immoral and illegal. https://t.co/9yiYiosmiZ
Although there doesn't appear to be any indication that the Biden administration is willing to relent, they could get Tuberville to drop his holds if Congress votes on the policy, as the senator has consistently been calling for.
Further, even with Tuberville holding up these military promotions by objecting to unanimous consent efforts, these nominees can still pass through with a full vote from the Senate, which is currently controlled by the Democrats. While there currently are quite a few promotions to vote on, it's worth wondering what's stopping Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) from taking real action.
“That would be the area where we could talk about, you know, put on the floor what you want, but if it doesn't (pass), if it fails, it's got to go back to the original,” Tuberville said.
— Liz Brown-Kaiser (@lizbrownkaiser) July 13, 2023
The senator has also spoken to support that he has, armed with receipts. The senator's Twitter accounts, both his official and campaign ones, have been particularly busy with information on the situation as well as support. Townhall has also spoken to several Republican members about that support, from both the House and the Senate, with a senior Senate staffer having reiterated that it is there.
As Spencer highlighted on Tuesday, Tuberville can speak to having the support from over 5,000 veterans, as communicated in a letter sent to Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Biden's Pentagon brass may be all-in on taxpayer-funded abortion tourism, but those who've served in the U.S. military are backing @SenTuberville's principled stand against the DoD's legally dubious policy with a letter signed by more than 5,000 veterans.https://t.co/QRpvUABkGi
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) July 18, 2023
For all of this talk of access, there's no mention women are pressured into their abortions. This includes the military. In October of 2012, Rebecca Edmonds made headlines for being dismissed from the Air Force in 2011 for becoming pregnant because it meant she would be a single parent, even though she had support for her child. She was even held liable for her $92,000 scholarship that she received and was expected to pay back. She could have, however, kept her commission if she had an abortion or placed her child for adoption. The Air Force ultimately had to change its policy.
The policy was even worse in previous decades, when, prior to 1970, women had to have abortions or leave the military.
In more recent news, though, women have been affected directly by the woke military policies by being forced to sleep and shower in the same facilities as biological men in the process of transitioning to women. Perhaps Kirby should be so passionate about speaking up for these women.
I never thought I’d be asking this question to a nominee to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. pic.twitter.com/Lwk2NIpBlk
— Senator Mike Rounds (@SenatorRounds) July 11, 2023
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