House Republicans proved Thursday they are perfectly willing to jeopardize U.S. national security and Americans who have sworn to defend our country if it means fulfilling their crusade to ban abortions.
On a near party-line vote of 221-213, House Republicans voted to attach an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the Pentagon from facilitating access to abortion services for U.S. service members. Under current policy, the Pentagon provides time off and travel expenses to troops who must travel out of state to access abortions (i.e. standard reproductive care).
The amendment not only jeopardizes U.S. service members’ health care, it also threatens national security by attaching a poison pill measure to the Pentagon budget that Senate Democrats will never accept. It’s nothing short of maniacal.
Democrats have warned Republicans about the fallout of such a right-wing tactic in multiple speeches on the House floor.
“The MAGA majority is using our defense bill to get one stop closer to the only thing they really care about: a nationwide abortion ban,” Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the Democratic whip, said in a floor speech.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst and current Senate candidate, said the anti-abortion amendment was part of an “extremist wish list.”
But it’s not just House Republicans who are hamstringing U.S. defenses over anti-abortion zealotry. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is currently blocking all military promotions in protest of the Pentagon’s current policy regarding abortion access.
On Wednesday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, railed against Tuberville’s blockade while explaining that, no, the military isn’t paying for abortions.
“For the first time in over 100 years, we do not have a commandant of the Marine Corps.,” she said, calling it a “national disgrace.”
Duckworth also explained that, no, the military is not funding abortions. “The DOD is simply providing the ability for service members to travel to a different state from the one to which they are assigned in order to receive reproductive healthcare,” Duckworth said.
This is nothing short of an electoral nightmare for Republicans if they hope to have any chance of appealing to swing voters and independents in 2024. Americans do not take kindly to anything that disrupts military readiness, particularly over anti-abortion zealotry. A solid two-thirds or more of voters already side with Democrats on abortion rights. Putting the country’s national security at risk over a fringe GOP issue simply proves Republicans cannot be trusted to protect the country if voters entrust it to their care.
Kerry Eleveld
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