Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin enacted the Travel Compensation Policy in 2022. getty
A controversial military policy that allows service members or their families to be reimbursed for travel expenses if they have to travel out of state for reproductive health care, including abortions, has been in place since June of last year. It had been applied just 12 times through March, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that after the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in 2022, soldiers assigned to states that no longer provide other types of medical care, such as abortions and in vitro fertilization treatments, will continue to have access to those services. This policy was established to ensure that the
The policy sparked anger in some circles, led by Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville. To maintain hundreds of military promotions We tried unsuccessfully for months to get the Pentagon to cancel it. Mr. Tuberville ultimately withdrew all ownership interest in December.
Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon deputy spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the travel insurance was used 12 times over a seven-month period by service members and their dependents, at a cost of about $40,000. The money went toward lodging, food and transportation costs when traveling out of state to receive care.
The Pentagon said data for the first five months of 2023 does not exist because there was no established way to track service usage when the policy was first implemented.
The insurance does not cover the cost of abortions, and it is unclear how many of the 12 trips were for abortions or other types of reproductive care, such as in vitro fertilization treatments. Singh said the Pentagon does not have a specific breakdown of what services service members and their dependents are seeking because of medical privacy concerns.
Under federal law, Department of Defense medical facilities can only perform abortions when the life of the pregnant woman is in danger or in cases of rape or incest, which are extremely rare. . According to the ministry, 91 abortions were performed at military medical facilities from 2016 to 2021.
For months, many of the military officers directly affected by Tuberville’s hold refused to speak out, fearing that any statement would be seen as political. But as pressures mount on their lives and the lives of the officers they serve, they say the uncertainty over their next move is hurting not only them but their children and spouses. I started.
They are already overworked, with some of the most talented junior officers leaving the military due to the instability surrounding them, and with too many vacancies and having to juggle multiple roles. We discussed the tremendous additional stress the condition places on officers. military community.
The issue came to the fore in October when the commander of the U.S. Marine Corps, Gen. Eric Smith, suffered a heart attack just two days after speaking at a military conference about hold stress. It was only in recent weeks that Mr. Smith returned to full duty.
