The United States Department of Defense announced on Thursday that it would cover the cost of travel for elective abortions for service members and their dependents through the second trimester of pregnancy. These changes are an implementation of the directive given by the Secretary of Defense in 2022 and apply even to service members who live in localities where life-saving laws have been implemented.
The updated rules include:
- Cash travel allowances to cover expenses surrounding elective abortion.
- A change to reporting standards – service members will have until 20 weeks gestation to notify their commanding officers of pregnancy and intent to terminate.
- Paid leave of up to 21 days for elective abortions.
In response, Lila Rose, Founder and President of Live Action, released the following statement:
“President Biden has turned the lethality of the American military towards pre-born children, forcing every American to be culpable in their homicide. This is an extraordinarily sick policy. Pro-life members of Congress must stand up to these egregious abuses of the Biden administration and ensure that our military is not using our tax dollars to kill our children. Our military personnel should be focused on protecting American children, not killing them.”
Science clearly confirms the humanity of each preborn child at the moment of fertilization when genetics such as ethnicity, hair color, eye color, and other traits are already determined. By the end of 12 weeks, all of the child’s organs and body systems are fully formed. Studies show that child can feel pain by the end of the first trimester. Yet the Biden administration will use taxpayer dollars to kill children much older — nearly able to survive outside the womb with medical assistance.
Rose continued.
“From the moment of fertilization, a child is human, and abortion is the act of killing them. The military will fund barbaric procedures, including the abortion pill used in the first trimester, which starves and poisons a child. Abortion procedures like a D&E abortion used to kill a pain-capable child at 20 weeks gestational age tortures a helpless infant, with the abortionist dilating the mother’s cervix, then uses instruments to tear the child limb from limb. President Biden is in the pocket of the abortion industry, and he’s shamefully forcing our men and women in uniform to be the abortion industry’s accomplice.”
