The House of Representatives voted 221 to 213 to pass an amendment on Thursday to the National Defense Authorization Act that would rescind the Biden administration’s new policy of using taxpayer money to fund travel for elective abortions sought by Department of Defense personnel. On Friday, the House approved final passage of the annual defense-funding bill 219 to 210, with four Democrats voting “yes” and four Republicans voting “no.”
For decades, federal law has prohibited the Department of Defense from funding elective abortion. “Funds available to the Department of Defense may not be used to perform abortions except where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest,” reads 10 U.S. Code 1093. The same law also prohibits elective abortions from being performed at any Department of Defense facility. But in February of this year, the Department of Defense implemented a new policy to use taxpayer dollars to fund transportation and lodging for DOD personnel who travel out of state to seek an elective abortion because the procedure is illegal in the state where they’re stationed.
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