Controversial Army Reproductive Well being Care Journey Coverage Was Used Simply 12 Occasions In 7 Months

WASHINGTON: A controversial navy coverage that permits service members to be reimbursed for journey in the event that they or a member of the family need to exit of state for reproductive well being care — together with abortions — was used simply 12 occasions from June to December final yr, the Pentagon stated Tuesday.

Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin instituted the coverage after the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 to make sure that troops who have been assigned to states the place abortions or different forms of well being care similar to IVF therapy have been not offered might nonetheless entry these providers.

The coverage sparked outrage in some circles and led Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville to carry up a whole lot of navy promotions for months in a failed try to get the Pentagon to rescind it. Tuberville in the end withdrew all of his holds in December.

The journey coverage was utilized by service members or their dependents 12 occasions throughout that seven-month interval at a value of roughly $40,000, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh stated Tuesday. The cash coated lodging, meals and transportation for out-of-state journey to obtain care.

The Pentagon stated it didn’t have knowledge on the primary 5 months of 2023 as a result of the providers didn’t set up a approach to monitor these makes use of when the coverage was first carried out.

The coverage doesn’t cowl the price of abortions, and it’s not clear how lots of the 12 journeys have been for abortions or different sort of reproductive well being care, similar to IVF therapy. Singh stated the Pentagon wouldn’t have a selected breakdown of what providers have been sought by the service members or their dependents as a result of medical privateness points.

Underneath federal regulation, Protection Division medical services can carry out abortions solely when the lifetime of the pregnant individual is in danger or in circumstances of rape or incest, and people situations have been extraordinarily uncommon. In response to the division, there have been 91 abortions carried out in navy medical services between 2016 and 2021.

For months, lots of the navy officers instantly affected by Tuberville’s holds declined to talk out, for worry any feedback can be seen as political. However because the pressures on their lives and the lives of the officers serving beneath them elevated, they started to talk about how the uncertainty surrounding their subsequent transfer was hurting not solely them however their youngsters and spouses.

They talked about how a few of their most proficient junior officers have been going to get out of the navy due to the instability they noticed round them, and about how having to carry out a number of roles due to so many vacancies was placing monumental further stress on an already overworked navy group.

The difficulty got here to a head when U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith suffered a coronary heart assault in October, simply two days after he’d talked in regards to the stress of the holds at a navy convention. Smith totally returned to his duties solely in the previous couple of weeks.

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