House Republicans are working to stop the Biden administration from forcing taxpayers to fund abortion travel in the U.S. Military through an amendment to the annual defense spending bill.
Americans strongly oppose taxpayer funding for abortions, and leading pro-life organizations have been urging lawmakers to block President Joe Biden’s pro-abortion Department of Defense policy.
Soon, the U.S. House Rules Committee may consider an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would do that, the Washington Post reports.
Sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, the measure would prohibit the Pentagon from using tax dollars to pay for abortions or reimburse military members and their dependents for travel and other related expenses for abortions. Exceptions would be allowed in cases of rape, incest or threats to the mother’s life.
“Taxpayer dollars should NEVER fund travel for abortions, especially if those dollars are meant for our military,” Jackson wrote Monday on Twitter. “U.S. Rep. Chip Roy and I are leading the charge to DEFUND this. This policy is a DISGRACE!! We will end it!”
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Last week in a letter, almost 50 pro-life organizations urged House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other leading Republicans to end Biden’s pro-abortion policy, including the Heritage Foundation, Students for Life Action, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Family Research Council and the American Cornerstone Institute. LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt also participated.
“Rather than focusing on confronting the serious challenges facing our country, President Biden and Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin have unnecessarily dragged the military into the middle of a divisive political issue and attempted to co-opt military resources in furtherance of an unrelated, partisan, ideological agenda,” they wrote.
Issued in response to the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, the Department of Defense policy requires taxpayers to pay for travel and time off for military service members and their families to have elective abortions. If allowed to continue, Republicans estimate the policy will result in approximately 4,100 more unborn babies killed in abortions every year.
Polls consistently show strong public opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions. For example, a new Marist poll found 60 percent of Americans oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the U.S. Additionally, 78 percent oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in other countries.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of SBA Pro-life America, slammed the Biden administration for pushing abortion on the U.S. Military instead of devoting time and resources to true national defense needs.
“The Biden-Harris administration will stop at nothing, including ignoring state and federal laws to impose abortion on demand paid for by taxpayers in all 50 states,” Dannenfelser said Monday. “This policy is not only illegal but uses the DOD to promote the interests of the abortion lobby when the department should instead focus on national security and the needs of service members, particularly wounded, ill or injured members who deserve better.”
She praised Jackson and Roy for “courageously leading the charge to rein in the administration’s rogue action” and protect American taxpayers’ interests.
“We urge all Members of Congress to vote yes on the Jackson-Roy amendment,” Dannenfelser said.
However, House Democrats also introduced plans to expand abortions even further in the military. An amendment to the defense bill by U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pennsylvania, would end restrictions on taxpayer funding for abortions and allow tax dollars to be spent to abort unborn babies, fund abortion travel and perform elective abortions in military medical facilities, according to the Washington Post.
Houlahan’s proposal almost certainly will not pass the Republican-controlled House.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate, Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville also has been fighting to stop the pro-abortion policy. For months, Tuberville has blocked Pentagon promotions, saying he will continue until the Biden administration reverses the life-destroying order.
“This is about a tyrannical executive branch walking all over the United States Senate and doing our jobs,” Tuberville told WBHM in May. “This was Secretary Austin’s choice. [He] thought abortion is more important than his highest-level military nominations.”
Bans on taxpayer funding for elective abortions used to have strong bipartisan support in Congress. Only recently did Democrat leaders abandon the American people on the issue and begin supporting taxpayer funding for elective abortions – a goal of the abortion industry, which spends huge amounts of money on elections.
The Biden administration has expanded abortions in ways no other president has tried, including the new military policy and another action allowing abortion pills to be sold through the mail without ever seeing a doctor.
Biden also is using Americans’ tax dollars to create a national abortion hotline, and his administration recently began cutting off health care funding for poor Americans in pro-life states because of their laws banning elective abortions.
