The US Defense Department released a series of new policies on Thursday to provide additional support to service members and dependents who must travel out of state to receive an abortion, including allowing up to three weeks of administrative leave.
“This policy reflects our continued commitment to taking care of our people and ensuring that the entire force remains ready and resilient,” Gilbert Cisneros, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a memo released Thursday.
The military has been adjusting to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June which overturned protections previously established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The new ruling set off what are called “trigger laws” in roughly a dozen states, which were designed to go into effect almost immediately after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Many of the most restrictive states – including Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana – are home to major military installations. There were immediately concerns over how service members and their families, who often do not get to choose which installation and in which state they get to live, would navigate the changes.
Indeed, a Pentagon press release on Thursday accompanying the new policies says that service members and their families “do not control where they are stationed, and due to the nature of military service, are frequently required to travel or move to meet operational requirements.”
“The efforts taken by the Department today will not only ensure that service members and their families are afforded time and flexibility to make private health care decisions, but will also ensure service members are able to access non-covered reproductive health care regardless of where they are stationed,” the release said.
The policy, which will go into effect by March 18,…
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