Shortly after the Supreme Court handed down its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent an internal memo to the department saying that the decision would have “readiness implications” for the force. My team and I reached out for clarification about his comments, not knowing that we’d still seek answers more than a year later. We finally became aware of Austin’s intention to implement a policy that would pay for travel and extra time off for service members getting an abortion using taxpayer dollars. A third-party study estimated this policy could increase the number of abortions subsidized by taxpayers to more than 4,000 annually — 205 times the number of abortions performed last year.
I warned Secretary Austin that if he went through with his plan to turn the military into an abortion travel agency, I would place a hold on his civilian and flag/general officer promotions.
He did it anyway, and I kept my word.
Since then, the Pentagon has refused to answer specific questions I’ve asked in my letters. Questions like: how many service members have taken advantage of this illegal policy? Or how many taxpayer dollars have been spent to pay travel expenses for people to get abortions? While I’d like to think this is due to a massive mail backlog at the Pentagon, DoD leaders seem to have no issue responding to letters from Democrats like Elizabeth Warren. This leads me to believe that Secretary Austin doesn’t want to answer my questions. Recently, I sent another letter to Secretary Austin following up on my request for more information. I will continue asking because the American taxpayers deserve to know all the details surrounding this policy.
When I ran for Senate, I promised the people of Alabama that I would fight for their values here in Washington, D.C. A vast majority of Alabamians are pro-life, and don’t want their hard-earned tax dollars going to anything to do with abortion. This checks out at the national level as well: polls show that sixty percent of Americans — Democrats, Independents, and Republicans — don’t believe tax dollars should be used for abortions.
Democrats have called me all sorts of names thinking that it would get me to change my mind. But this has only confirmed to me that I’m doing the right thing. Our military is supposed to defend life — not destroy it.
Joe Biden says my stance is harming readiness. But the Biden administration isn’t concerned about readiness or building a strong military. Their only concern is implementing their woke agenda that discourages future recruits and weakens our force. We saw this firsthand when President Biden and Secretary Austin discharged approximately 8,000 servicemembers for their refusal to take an experimental vaccine without giving a thought to how firing 8,000 honorable men and women would affect readiness.
A recent survey showed one of the top reasons people don’t want to enlist is a lack of trust in military leaders. That’s because of this widespread and justified perception that our military is becoming less friendly to conservatives or even moderates. We can’t have a politicized military — that’s not who we are as a country. Our servicemembers should be loyal to one thing and one thing only: the Constitution of the United States of America.
I am deeply grateful for the support of Eagle Forum members across the nation and in my home state of Alabama. Your prayers and encouragement are so important. I look forward to continuing to stand alongside of you as we fight to protect the unborn.