Recent data undermines the Pentagon's assertions its vaunted abortion travel reimbursement policy was essential to military readiness, experts and lawmakers told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In the six months between June and December 2023, service members utilized the controversial travel policy 12 times, costing the Department of Defense just under $45,000 for that time period, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Pro-life Republicans argued that the Pentagon was trying to skirt state laws and federal legislation that prevents the administration from paying for abortions, pulling the Pentagon into partisan political issues.
The holds didn't end until December, leaving behind frustrated politicians and failing to sway the Pentagon on the abortion issue.
Republican lawmakers remain frustrated with the Pentagon for its reticence to disclose the numbers underpinning its claims that constraints on abortion access are a national security risk.
The Senate Armed Services Committee received information from the Army that three service members used the abortion travel regulation between August and December 2023 and claimed expenses totaling $2,097, Wicker said.
"Ensuring service members have access to healthcare, including reproductive healthcare, is critical to readiness. The travel policy was used 12 times," the defense official told the DCNF. In a letter Tuberville sent to Austin in December 2022, he said the policy could facilitate up to 4,100 abortions annually, CNN reported.
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