Another consequence of the Dobbs decision is Republicans in Congress fighting to bar women servicemembers stationed in states with restrictive anti-abortion laws from being able to travel to states where they can get abortions if needed.
“If you’re in the military now, and you have a medical need that can’t be served in the area where you live, the military will pay for you to travel to a place where you can get treatment for a rare condition or, you know, a bizarre shoulder surgery that you can’t have access to where you are. And we think women should be able to make healthy choices and have their travel supported to make the health choices they want,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-VA, who helped lead the pushback against the Republican anti-military readiness effort.
Because that’s what this is: an anti-military readiness effort.
The Department of Defense rolled out the new policy aimed at closing the gaps in reproductive healthcare post-Dobbs earlier this year, including fully paid travel expenses and three weeks of leave for servicemembers who have to go out of state to obtain an abortion.
Women in red states that have been rolling back basic reproductive healthcare post-Dobbs have faced life-threatening complications from not being able to have abortion as an option in extreme and even routine difficulties that arise in pregnancy.
That this would be an issue for women servicemembers should not be a surprise to anybody.
Any more than it should be a surprise that a servicemember would maybe need to travel for treatment for a torn ACL, a shoulder or elbow injury, or any of a number of other issues.
The push in the Senate failed in committee, as Kaine noted, but it’s not dead.
It’s almost like the Republicans wanting things to move in this direction are punishing women for wanting to serve.
Or for just being, you know, women.
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Chris Graham
