Rep. Mike Rogers, the lead Republican of the House Armed Services Committee, has released a statement seeking answers on an October 20th memo from the Department of Defense saying that it will pay for service members to travel for abortions.
According to federal law, troops cannot use their Tricare health insurance to pay for abortions.
On Friday, Rep. Rogers issued a statement accusing Joe Biden of blatantly misusing the US military for political purposes.
“I am deeply disappointed that the Department of Defense has allowed President Biden to blatantly misuse the United States Military for political purposes. Yesterday’s memo from DoD, released nearly two weeks before the election, is a desperate campaign tactic that undermines the core mission of our military,” Rep. Rogers said.
The congressman’s statement continued on to demand that the DoD be blocked from “wasting any portion of their budget on this horrendous policy.”
“I demand answers from the Department of Defense on how this memo came to be,” Rep. Rogers said. “Taxpayer dollars meant for deterring China and other adversaries should not be squandered on campaign politics. DoD must be blocked from wasting any portion of their budget on this horrendous policy.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Thursday that “the Department will take all appropriate action, within its authority and consistent with applicable federal law, as soon as possible to ensure that Service members and their families can access reproductive health care and health care providers can operate effectively.”
“Our Service members and their families are often required to travel or move to meet our staffing, operational, and training requirements. Such moves should not limit their access to reproductive health care,” Austin wrote.
Austin said that the Department will “establish travel and transportation allowances for Service members and their dependents, as appropriate and consistent with applicable federal law and operational requirements, and as necessary amend any applicable travel regulations, to facilitate official travel to access non-covered reproductive health care that is unavailable within the local area of a Service member’s permanent duty station.”
