A group of congressional lawmakers is demanding that the Department of Defense’s appropriations bill prohibit taxpayer dollars from being spent on travel for service members to obtain abortions.
In a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday, the 10 members of Congress said they have “serious concerns” regarding the language of the defense appropriations bill.
“Specifically, we urge you to include language that unequivocally prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for service members to travel to obtain an abortion,” the group wrote.
The letter was spearheaded by Representative Eric Burlison (R-MO) and signed by nine other Republican House members including Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), Ben Cline (R-VA) Mary Miller (R-IL), Bob Good (R-VA), Matthew Rosendale (R-MT), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL).
The group blasted the Biden administration for effectively turning the Defense Department into an “abortion travel agency.”
“Redirecting the focus of our armed forces away from readiness and combating threats and instead toward the Biden Administration’s radical abortion agenda is an intentional and abhorrent misuse of government funding to facilitate the killing of unborn children,” the members of Congress wrote.
The issue of taxpayers covering abortion travel for the military has come up before.
In 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin directed the Pentagon to pay for female service members to travel for abortions. The Pentagon argued at the time that the end of Roe vs. Wade means women in the military have to travel greater distances and spend more money to get abortions, which impact military readiness.
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The group of lawmakers who wrote to Johnson on Friday countered that while they recognize the importance of providing “comprehensive healthcare” for American military personnel, abortion is not part of that.
“Abortion is not healthcare, and therefore should not be treated as such,” the lawmakers wrote. “The appropriations process should focus on the primary mission of the Department of Defense – national defense.”
“By introducing clear language that prohibits the allocation of funds for travel related to abortion services, we can ensure that taxpayer dollars are not used to facilitate or help provide for abortions,” the group said.
Congress is currently working on a dozen appropriations bills to fund the government, work it was supposed to finish at the start of the fiscal year back in October. On Thursday, Congress passed a continuing resolution, a short-term government funding bill that will fund the government through early March while lawmakers hash out the details of the full spending bills.