For decades, federal law has prohibited the Defense Department from spending tax dollars on most abortions.
Forty-two years ago, for example, President Ronald Reagan signed a defense appropriations bill that said, "None of the funds provided by this Act shall be used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term."
Three years later, as reported by the Congressional Research Service, Reagan signed a defense authorization that made similar language permanent law. It said, "Funds available to the Department of Defense may not be used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term."
In 1988, according to CRS, Reagan's Defense Department prohibited "abortions in military medical facilities overseas." Pro-abortion members of Congress unsuccessfully tried to reverse this prohibition.
"In 1990," reported CRS, "an attempt to overturn this restriction failed. An amendment (to the DOD authorization act) to allow abortions at military medical facilities overseas was withdrawn when the Senate fell two votes short of the number needed to invoke cloture (58-41). The House of Representatives rejected a similar amendment."
President Bill Clinton later took the position that abortions should be permitted at DOD facilities as long as they were "privately funded."
On Jan. 22, 1993, two days after his inauguration, Clinton issued a memorandum to his defense secretary.
"Section 1093 of title 10 of the United States code prohibits the use of Department of Defense ('DOD') funds to perform abortions except where the life of a woman would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term," said Clinton. "By memoranda of December 21, 1987, and June 21, 1988, DOD has gone beyond what I am informed are the requirements of the statute and has banned all abortions at U.S. military facilities, even where the procedure is privately funded.
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"This ban is unwarranted," Clinton said. "Accordingly, I hereby direct that you reverse the ban immediately and permit abortion services to be provided, if paid for entirely with non-DOD funds and in accordance with other relevant DOD policies and procedures."
Congress then forced Clinton himself to sign a defense authorization law in 1996 that reversed his own policy and prohibited most abortions at DOD facilities.
"No medical treatment facility or other facility of the Department of Defense," said this law, "may be used to perform an abortion except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest."
In 2012, President Barack Obama signed legislation that allowed federal funding of these types of abortions at DOD medical facilities.
"Previously, federal funds could only be used in cases where the life of the mother was at risk if the fetus was carried to term," CRS said in explaining this law. "With this recent change, federal funds and military facilities can be used to perform abortion where the life of the mother would be at risk if the fetus was carried to term or in cases where the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest."
This April, CRS published a report on "frequently asked questions" about "federal Support for reproductive health services." One question was, "Does DOD provide abortions or abortion counseling?"
"Title 10, Section 1093, of the U.S. Code prohibits the DOD from directly providing or paying for abortion service, except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term, or in cases in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest," said the report. "DOD may provide medically necessary care and services (including behavioral health care) when related to a covered abortion. Abortion counseling, referral, preparation, and follow-up for noncovered abortions are not available in MTFs [Military Treatment Facilities] or paid for by TRICARE."
Now, it is President Joe Biden's Defense Department that is trying to facilitate abortions. Last October, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a memo, reacting to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. "The recent Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization has impacted access to reproductive health care with readiness, recruiting, and retention implications for the Force," said Austin.
A report published by DOD explained that the department would be creating "travel and transportation allowances" to cover "reproductive health care," including abortion.
At a White House briefing this week, a reporter asked retired Adm. John Kirby, who is director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, "Why is the new DOD policy on abortion critical to military readiness?"
"Whether it's about female servicemembers -- one in five -- or female family members being able to count on the kinds of healthcare and reproductive care specifically that they need to serve -- that is a foundational, sacred obligation of military leaders across the river," Kirby said in part of his answer.
This statement by Kirby resulted in a headline in the Daily Mail that said, "White House says it is Pentagon's 'sacred obligation' to help troops get abortions."
Last week, when the House voted on the National Defense Authorization Act, Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas offered an amendment that its summary said would "prohibit the Secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services."
"Taxpayer funding of travel for abortion, is, in fact, taxpayer-funded abortion," Jackson said on the House floor.
His amendment was approved by a 221-213 vote. It ought to become the law -- as should a complete nationwide ban on all abortions.
The ultimate purpose of the Defense Department is to protect the lives and liberty of the American people, not to cooperate in the taking of innocent lives in our own country.
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