Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh pushed back on Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-AL) continued hold on Department of Defense (DoD) nominations over their insistence of providing transportation to female service members who want to get abortions if the state their duty station is in has strong pro-life laws.
Singh said the DoD does not have an "abortion policy," rather their policy allows for travel to another area where they have access to "equitable" healthcare.
"No, we're not going to change our policy on ensuring every single service member has equitable access to reproductive healthcare. If you are a service member stationed in a state that has rollbacked or restricted healthcare access, you are often stationed there because you are assigned, it's not that you chose to go there. A service member in Alabama deserves to have the same access to healthcare as a service member in California, as a service member stationed in Korea," Singh said.
"It's not an abortion policy. The Department does not have an abortion policy. We have a healthcare policy and we have a travel policy that allows for our service members to take advantage of healthcare that should be accessible to them," she added.
In December of last year, Tuberville wrote to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin saying the additional costs for such a policy "are as exponential as they are immoral," noting, "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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