DOD, VA move to protect post-Dobbs reproductive rights

2022-10-26T15:56:25-04:00

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June ending the constitutional right to where and when pregnant people can access abortion health care, the U.S. departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs moved to protect service members’ and Veterans’ reproductive rights.

In an Oct. 20 memo, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III directed the service branches to institute policy changes dealing with issues such as health care privacy rights, support for reproductive health care providers, and access to abortion services and reproductive health education. The directives include:

• Making uniform and lengthening to 20 weeks the time that service members must notify commanders of a pregnancy, except where there are certain occupational health hazards.
• Prohibiting DOD health care providers from notifying or disclosing reproductive health information to commanders. Exceptions include risk of harm to the mission, occupational safety requirements or acute medical conditions.
• Directing commanders to be objective and discrete in addressing reproductive health care issues and to enforce policies against discrimination and retaliation in these contexts.
• Reimbursing fees to DOD health care providers who must get licensed in a different state so they can provide legal and DOD-covered abortion services.

Dobbs could impact thousands of DOD service members and personnel

DOD officials said the directives, based on the recommendations of a multidisciplinary team of experts and service members themselves, took time to formulate.

Many states, however, have moved quickly to implement the June 24 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which permits them to allow, limit or ban access to abortion. As of Oct. 13, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Abortion Dashboard counted:

• 13 U.S. states in which abortion is illegal.
• Five states in which an abortion ban is temporarily blocked by the courts.
• Seven states in which abortion services are available but limited to 15-22 weeks of pregnancy.
• One state in which abortion is banned after six weeks of pregnancy.
• 24 states and the District of Columbia in which abortion is available.

A recent RAND analysis found that about 80,000 women on active duty — most within child-bearing age — could already or soon live in states where abortion is banned or severely limited.

“This means that 40 percent of active-duty service women in the continental United States will have no or severely restricted access to abortion services where they are stationed,” the September 2022 RAND report said. “These women make up 18 percent of the stateside total active-duty force.”

An additional 81,000 DOD civilians live in states where abortion is or will be prohibited or severely restricted, RAND estimated.

Senators called on DOD to prepare for post-Dobbs landscape

Women are the fastest-growing segment of America’s all-volunteer armed forces, making up around 17% of active-duty personnel, according to RAND.

Before Dobbs came down, eight senators called on Austin and the DOD to prepare for what they rightly predicted would become a patchwork system of abortion access. They said the decision could negatively impact national security and military readiness. It would create “a scenario where servicemembers’ reproductive and health care rights would become dependent on their duty station,” the senators said in a May 12 letter to Austin.

In issuing the latest directives, DOD officials agreed with the need to address this post-Dobbs reality.

“The practical effect of the recent changes is that service members may be forced to travel greater distances, take more time off work, and pay more out-of-pocket expenses to access reproductive health care, all of which have readiness, recruiting and retention implications for America’s armed forces,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder in an Oct. 20 media briefing.

In addition to privacy protections and licensure reimbursements, the directives provide travel and transportation resources and time off allowances so service members can access reproductive health care unavailable where they serve.

DOD is also creating contraception education programs to help service members prevent unintended pregnancies. According to RAND’s report, 63.3% of service women with an unintended pregnancy were not using any form of contraception prior to the pregnancy and 32.8% were not using a reliable form of contraception.

DOD’s reproductive health education programs aim to clarify which DOD medical services are available and funded and where service members can go to request reproductive health care. DOD noted that under TRICARE, there are no co-pays for contraception services.

VA in September also clarified that Veterans who are pregnant can receive abortion counseling and abortions in limited cases.

Yet DOD, VA and other federal agencies have limited authority to provide or support abortion-related services under current law. The law bans DOD and VA from using money and facilities for most abortions. Allowable exceptions include if a pregnancy results from rape or incest or would endanger the life of the mother.

Learn more

• DOD’s reproductive rights memo: https://rly.pt/3sRjRWd

• RAND’s “How the Dobbs decision could affect U.S. National Security”: https://rly.pt/3Dy7ft6

• VA’s interim rule on abortion counseling and services: https://rly.pt/3NdBdpA

• VA’s reproductive health benefits page: https://rly.pt/3Der4UH

DOD Announces Efforts to Ensure Access to Reproductive Health Care

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced DOD will take all appropriate action to ensure that service members and their families can access reproductive health care and health care providers

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 26 at 2022 4:18 PM

2022-10-26T16:18:50-04:00

Thanks for the update on what the V.A. & D.O.D. can assist with regarding abortion-related services and contraception. This should be a decision between the individual & her doctor... not some politician. The Republicans have loaded the SCOTUS with Justices that no longer recognize "precedent"... contrary to what they communicated to the Senate during their confirmation hearing.

Response by SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM made Oct 26 at 2022 5:26 PM

2022-10-26T17:26:04-04:00

This appears to be very comprehensive!

Response by CWO4 Terrence Clark made Oct 26 at 2022 5:53 PM

2022-10-26T17:53:34-04:00

Contrary to left wing propaganda, there was never a Constitutional right to infanticide. DOD should spend more resources and time on their core mission of national defense and developing warriors and less time devising schemes to end run states' rights and murder children in the womb.

Response by CPO David R. D. made Oct 27 at 2022 4:11 PM

2022-10-27T16:11:41-04:00

"Women are the fastest-growing segment of America’s all-volunteer armed forces, making up around 17% of active-duty personnel, according to RAND."

Being that there are only two genders, if women segment is growing, then male must be declining, so that would make women the fastest and only growing segment with regard to gender. Kind of a NO-BRAINER if ya ask me, but that's just my humble opinion. :)

Response by CPL LaForest Gray made Oct 29 at 2022 12:32 PM

2022-10-29T12:32:44-04:00

1.) How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Helped End the Military's Policy of Forced Abortion

“Before 1970, women serving in the military were discharged for becoming mothers. This meant that pregnant women in uniform were forced to make a choice: Leave the military to become mothers or risk an illegal (and then-dangerous) abortion.”

“Ginsburg won a stay for Struck's discharge, arguing that the only conspicuous difference between men and women was that "only women become pregnant; and if you subject a woman to disadvantageous treatment on the basis of her pregnant status, ... you would be denying her equal treatment under the law."

SOURCE : https://www.military.com/history/how-ruth-bader-ginsburg-helped-end-militarys-policy-of-forced-abortion.html/amp

2.) The original documents are located in Box 9, folder “Defense Department - Abortion Policy (1)” of the Philip Buchen Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.

SOURCE : https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0019/4520504.pdf

3.) The US air force gave her a choice: your baby or your job

“As a new culture war rages around abortion, scholars believe a 1970s case taken up by Ruth Bader Ginsburg shows the lengths the US government has gone to in the past to control women’s sexuality”

SOURCE : https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/13/us-air-force-pregnancy-susan-struck-abortion-motherhood-america

How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Helped End the Military's Policy of Forced Abortion

Response by PO1 John Johnson made Oct 31 at 2022 7:04 AM

2022-10-31T07:04:49-04:00

Apparently, since the "right" to an abortion IS NOT found anywhere in the US Constitution as prescribed by the Supreme Court in their Dobbs verdict (and rightly so, as those powers not specifically listed in the Constitution to the Feds are the province of the individual States), when informing the public as to the availability of abortion services, I suggest other fitting terms to apply, rather than a "right", to describe the feeling of need for an abortion. Here's a few that come to mind: Lust, crave, pine, yearn, demand (yeah, that's a biggie), hanker, thirst, pine, etc.