The U.S. Department of Defense will pay for military personnel or military family members who need to travel to states where abortion is legal, the office announced in a statement Thursday.
“To ensure that we can recruit, retain and maintain the readiness of a highly skilled force, the Secretary (of Defense, Lloyd Austin) has urged the Department to establish a travel and transportation concession” to access reproductive care, the statement said.
The measure is part of a series of regulations published today by the Pentagon to “guarantee access to reproductive care”, after the elimination of the constitutional right to abortion at federal level by the Court of Cassation in June opened its doors to its prohibition. some states.
In a message posted on the occasion of the announcement, Austin assures that the Department has noted great concern among many military personnel since the Supreme Court ruling was issued over “the complexity and uncertainty they face in accessing (… ) to services for abortion “.
Under Defense guidelines, the Department is required to pay for transportation for military personnel, or their family members, who need access to reproductive care that is not available in their service area.
It also urges the creation of an administrative leave policy that takes into account the need for absences for medical reasons to access treatments not covered by the Department itself, such as abortions or in vitro fertilization, so that those in need do not have to ask for days off. .
The regulations are part of a larger package of measures focused on the privacy and protection of health care workers who practice abortions. EFE
