On Wednesday, the Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) announced that the Pentagon has revoked a Biden-era policy covering travel expenses for military members and their dependents who are seeking abortions or other reproductive care across state lines.
According to the DTMO’s memo, the change, which became effective Tuesday, was implemented to comply with Trump’s anti-abortion executive order, “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment.” The order states that it is “the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”
Trump’s executive order also rescinded Biden-era executive orders that sought to protect and expand reproductive health care access after the far right Supreme Court — stacked with Trump appointees — stripped away the constitutional right to abortion. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, 41 states have instituted abortion bans with only limited exceptions, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
In early 2023, under former President Biden, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin introduced policies granting paid leave and reimbursing travel expenses for military members and their dependents who needed reproductive care outside their stationed state. The policy was designed to ensure troops could access necessary health care safely, even in states with severe abortion restrictions.
A 2022 memo from Christopher H. Schroeder, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, had affirmed that federal law “does not prohibit the use of funds to pay expenses, such as a per diem or travel expenses, that are incidental to the abortion.” However, Trump’s anti-abortion executive order dismissed that interpretation, asserting that “the previous administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.”
The Pentagon’s decision to revoke the policy faced swift criticism from lawmakers. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) led a group of 18 Democratic and independent senators in condemning the move.
“This decision strips away service members’ ability to access the reproductive care they need, which is nothing short of abhorrent,” Shaheen wrote in a press release. “U.S. service members have no control over where they are stationed and what state laws may govern their bodies. The policy that the Department of Defense took away from our servicewomen and military families provided them the ability to travel to another state to seek out the care they need.”
This is the latest step in the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to roll back reproductive rights nationwide. In his first week back in office, Trump reinstated the Global Gag Rule, which blocks funding for international health organizations that provide abortion services or information, even in cases of sexual assault. As a result, many of these organizations may be forced to shut down or discontinue abortion-related care and counseling.
Additionally, one day before the anti-abortion rally March for Life on January 24, Trump pardoned anti-abortion activists convicted of blocking abortion clinic entrances — an act that led to a nurse being injured — in an effort to appeal to the anti-abortion movement. Since news of the pardons, abortion providers across the country have voiced fears for the safety of their staff and patients.
“Even with this law in place, anti-abortion activists have threatened to kill providers, have bombed their clinics, and have harassed their patients. Under previous administrations, clinics could count on the Department of Justice to enforce the law regardless of a president’s views on abortion. No more,” Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a press release. “President Trump has declared that it is him, not Congress, who decides what the law is and who it protects.”
Even buried within one of Trump’s many anti-trans executive orders is language suggesting that life begins at conception, which could be used by anti-abortion groups to implement anti-abortion fetal personhood laws. Pregnancy Justice has warned that these laws, which extend legal rights to fetuses — and in some cases, embryos and fertilized eggs — “fundamentally [change] the legal rights and status of all pregnant people, opening up the door to criminalization, surveillance, and obstetric violence.”
Abortion advocates also fear that under Trump, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — which, under Biden, worked to protect reproductive rights by expanding access to contraception, strengthening privacy protections for those seeking care, and reaffirming that EMTALA requires emergency abortion services — will instead be used to restrict and undermine reproductive rights.
In fact, more than 55 organizations advocating for reproductive rights, health, and justice have raised serious concerns with the Senate about Trump’s nominee for Secretary of HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., specifically citing his shifting stance on abortion. “The nomination of Kennedy for HHS Secretary represents a dangerous departure from the values of fairness, equity, and commitment to public health that should define HHS,” the organizations said in a letter.
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, Kennedy stated that he would enforce the president’s policies restricting abortion access.
“President Trump has told me that he wants to end late-term abortions, he wants to protect conscientious exemptions and that he wants to end federal funding for abortions abroad,” Kennedy testified. Kennedy also said that, if confirmed, he would “study the safety of mifepristone,” per Trump’s directive. The medication, widely used for abortion and miscarriage management, has been extensively researched and is considered as safe as ibuprofen.
“The leadership of HHS should be entrusted to someone dedicated to improving our public health and who promises to ensure individuals receive the health care they are guaranteed by law — not someone politically motivated to serve the interests of their administration and who has demonstrated a willingness to compromise public health for personal and political gain,” Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement.
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