President Donald Trump’s Department of Defense (DOD) has canceled a Biden-era policy funding abortion travel for women in the military.
On January 29, the DOD put an end to taxpayers paying for women in the military traveling to receive abortions if they were stationed in a state with laws on the books protecting unborn children. This policy forced taxpayers to fund the travel, lodging, and food expenses of women seeking abortions — despite the fact that it was in direct violation of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer dollars from funding abortions.
The Pentagon's new abortion travel policy allows service members to have more time off to kill an unborn baby than they generally do to get married.
Yet the left and top military brass tell us that Tommy Tuberville is the bad guy here for blocking their appointments until they… pic.twitter.com/7JVzd8PWIQ
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 18, 2023
In rescinding the policy, the DOD cited an executive order signed by Trump a few days earlier, which mandated compliance with the Hyde Amendment. Trump argued in the executive order that President Joe Biden’s “administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.”
BREAKING: President Trump Reverses Biden Policy Funding Military Abortion Travel https://t.co/o4uWJKm1IX pic.twitter.com/Ys1jiUPGrz
— LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) January 31, 2025
It is unclear how often the policy was used, but it had been in place for more than two years and was implemented soon after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The news was celebrated by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who has spent over a year trying to forced the Biden administration to end the policy by blocking senior military promotions from being voted on in the Senate.
“For the past two years, I have been sounding the alarm about the Pentagon’s illegal and immoral practice of using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions,” Tuberville wrote in a statement. “I took a lot of heat when I stood alone for nearly a year in holding senior Pentagon promotions over this — but as of today, it was all worth it. The Biden administration treated taxpayers like their own personal Piggy bank that they could use to bankroll their woke agenda.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s leadership, the Pentagon will once again be focused on lethality, not pushing a political agenda,” he continued. “Thank God common sense has been restored to our military under President Trump’s leadership.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared Tuberville’s statement on social media and thanked him for fighting against the policy.
Thank you for your leadership, Coach. https://t.co/hoEMpsVd0j
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 31, 2025
Meanwhile, Democrats are outraged over the decision, with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) deeming the move “abhorrent.”
“It runs contrary to a core goal of the Department of Defense — to ensure the health and well-being of all our service members so that our force remains ready at all times to protect Americans and keep this nation safe,” she claimed.