Through many years of working with military personnel, veterans, and their loved ones, I have become a part of the community. growing coalition defenders and storytellers of Won the fierce abortion battle in Congress -Includes blocking efforts to reinstate abortion bans that would prevent veterans from getting the care they need. As part of our fight, we showed how extremists in Congress are using the same tactics they use against abortion to attack transgender people. That means slipping special provisions for poisonous drugs into the law and stirring up fear and misinformation. and we have been working on it unite our efforts In the fight for reproductive and transgender health care.
The Biden administration has taken major actions To protect military families’ access to health care. The Department of Defense has launched a policy that will make beneficiaries pay for travel and transportation costs for reproductive care that is not available to them in the military. Biden administration turned over Trump administration’s hateful ban on transgender military service. And the Biden administration rescinded the total ban on abortion in The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides medical care to more than 9 million veterans and authorizes abortion care in cases of rape, incest, and where the life or health of the pregnant person is at risk.
But Project 2025 is putting all that progress at risk. Project 2025 claims to honor the sacrifices of service members, veterans, and their loved ones, but in reality it only pays lip service. Because, according to Project 2025, not all of them deserve to be honored and of course they are not people who should be morally condemned by the authors of Project 2025, and those who may need an abortion, LGBTQI+ people. , people living with HIV, and people of color definitely don’t either. , or someone who doesn’t really fit into the conservative agenda. In fact, Project 2025 complains all at once about the decline of patriotism, military draft, and Remain, while simultaneously dismissing the fact that military personnel need abortion care and denying transgender people the right to serve in the military. There is. absolutely.
Project 2025’s dangerous and hateful agenda reinstates the transgender service ban, which harkens back to the dark ages of open discrimination and hatred, and makes abortion care even more unaffordable for military personnel who provide services such as: It will make it unreachable. Already facing bans on interviews and care within the military. It would ban all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and raid military academies for content it deems “inappropriate,” but it would also include books and resources related to DEI and LGBTQI+ people. It’s a clear dog whistle against bigotry, as it could result in a widespread ban.
When it comes to veterans, Project 2025 authors are once again speaking from both sides, advocating for support for mental health services and urging the Veterans Administration to adapt to the changing demographics of veterans. But when it comes to helping veterans who need an abortion? Or is it gender-affirming care? Forget it. Project 2025 would permanently close this care, leaving veterans dependent on this care. Despite all this talk about supporting veterans, their agenda is more about accusing the Biden administration of “indoctrination” and complaining about employees working remotely than actually expanding access to essential health care. The focus is on ensuring the spread of the coronavirus.
For military and veteran communities, this extremist policy agenda threatens to turn back the clock on access to essential health care and restore legacy hatred, prejudice, and discrimination. notoriously troubled our troops, to the detriment of those it serves.
To me, the most insulting part of this hateful strategy is not the extremist attacks on service members and veterans, but the petty, political, ineffective way that Project 2025 will help real people. It’s time you spend on goals that are convenient for you. In this extremist worldview, the needs of women, LGBTQI+ people, and people of color are irrelevant.
We may not be able to prevent Project 2025 supporters from pursuing their plans. But we continue to grow our coalition of military and veteran storytellers. work to actually protect expand access to health care For the military community. And with the community of supporters we have cultivated, we are confident we will prevail.
