Former football coach for Auburn and now serving as senior senator from Alabama, Republican Tommy Tuberville remains unperturbed and unmoved in his stance against the Department of Defense’s unconstitutional funding of elective abortions with U.S. taxpayer monies.
The pressure on Tuberville has been increasing ever since he announced he would block the en banc approval of military promotions until the DOD changes its policy. There are now more than 300 promotions stalled in the queue as a result.
The policy change was announced by the White House in October last year, demanding that the DOD provide 21 days of paid leave and reimbursement of travel costs to “abortion sanctuary states” when a servicewoman lives in a state that protects life by limiting or banning elective abortions. This demand not only violated Title 10, Section 1093 of the U.S. Code, which prohibits taxpayer funding of abortions, but exceeded executive authority as well.
Senator Tuberville sought clarification of the policy, and was stonewalled by the DOD. In March he announced he was going to block all military promotions until the policy was rescinded. He said, “I’m not going to change my approach. I’ve told them [DOD officials] all along where [I stand]. I’m not changing my mind. I’ve had … 10 minutes with [the Secretary of Defense] … I’m not changing my mind.”
The complaints over Tuberville’s strong and unyielding position have ranged from sympathy for those members of the military whose lives have been disrupted, to anger that Tuberville is somehow unilaterally weakening the military. Democrats are pressuring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to override Tuberville’s position.
Tuberville responds simply by saying that the Senate is free to grant those promotions on a case-by-case basis instead of en banc, but the upper house, controlled by Democrats, wants to make an issue out of Tuberville’s stand.
Indeed, the DOD has declared that its unilateral change in policy isn’t an abortion policy at all, just a “healthcare policy.” In announcing last week that it would remain unyielding in its position, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh announced:
No, we’re not going to change our policy on ensuring every single service member has equitable access to reproductive healthcare.…
It’s not an abortion policy. The Department does not have an abortion policy. We have a healthcare policy and we have a travel policy that allows for our service members to take advantage of healthcare that should be accessible to them.
This is how the pentagon explains its “abortion policy” — by calling it something else.
More than 5,000 military veterans have seen through the fabrication. In a letter sent to both Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Minority Leader McConnell, they “firmly support Senator Tuberville’s position of holding civilian, general, and flag officers from confirmation by unanimous consent until the DoD rescinds its recently instituted policy of subsidizing abortion.”
The veterans state in their letter that they “stand united in condemning this policy” implemented by the Biden administration, saying it “is not just illegal, it shamefully politicizes the military, circumvents the authority of Congress, and exceeds the authority of the Department of Defense.”
As Townhall noted, it’s the DOD’s insistence on keeping its policy in place that is weakening the military, not Tuberville’s principled stand:
“To the contrary, it appears true that the politicized agenda of [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin and the Biden administration are significantly diminishing military readiness,” notes the letter. “The American people, [including] its servicemembers, are disappointed by President Biden and Secretary Austin’s recent decisions to mandate receipt of the COVID-19 vaccines, promote the radical LGBT agenda, and now subsidize abortion.”
The letter notes that the underlying issue is the value of life itself: “There is no truth more profound than the fact that all human life is sacred. The mission of the United States Military is to defend and protect all American lives — not subsidize the practice of destroying innocent and vulnerable American children via abortion with taxpayer dollars.”
This was made clear after the House, narrowly controlled by Republicans, passed amendments to a recent bill banning the Pentagon from paying those expenses. The author of one of those amendments, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), tweeted: “My amendment to stop Biden from using the DOD to pay for abortion travel passed. [Biden’s] policy is illegal.”
Taxpayer funding of travel for an abortion is in fact taxpayer-funded abortion, and this administration has been enacting policies across the government in clear violation of the law.
The Biden administration has sidestepped existing statute and given the [Defense] Department permission to take this illegal course of action.
Tuberville is to be commended for taking and keeping his strong stand against the Biden administration’s ignoring existing law in its continuing war against the lives of the unborn.
Related article:
Tommy Tuberville Holds Firm in Opposing Biden’s Abortion Policies
