Pentagon Ends Abortion Travel Policy For Troops And Their Families
The Biden-era policy provided paid leave and reimbursement for troops to travel outside the state where they are stationed to obtain abortions or reproductive care. Trump critics claim these policies distract the military from its mission to defend the nation. Meanwhile, infant mortality has been going up since the constitutional right to abortion was overturned in 2022.
The Pentagon has struck a Biden administration policy of covering travel costs for service members and their dependents who must cross state lines to receive abortions and other reproductive care, according to a new memo. The change, which took effect Tuesday, was聽announced in a memo posted by the Defense Travel Management Office on Wednesday. (Mitchell, 1/30)
Infant mortality in the U.S. has increased by 7% since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned the constitutional right to abortion, according to an October 2024 study. Those findings followed another study that reported a 12.7% rise in infant mortality in Texas after the implementation of Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. ... Both studies noted larger increases in deaths among infants born with birth defects. This suggests women are delivering more babies with severe congenital malformations who have no hope of survival beyond a few hours, days or, at most, a few weeks. (Winterstein and Rasmussen, 1/30)
Over the last week, the accounts of some major organizations that help Americans find abortion pills had their Instagram posts censored or removed, and at least one group said its account became difficult to find through searching 鈥 a practice known as 鈥渟hadow-banning鈥. Since last week, an Instagram search for the words 鈥渉ey jane鈥 will not surface the organization鈥檚 account. Instead, users can only find it if they type in the word 鈥渉ey jane health鈥 鈥 the account鈥檚 full name. This, Davis said, constitutes a shadow ban. 鈥淔or someone who鈥檚 not following us but is seeking out care, there鈥檚 really no way for them to be able to know that the only way to find us is to type 鈥榟ey jane health鈥,鈥 Davis said. (Sherman, 1/29)
A cadre of red and purple states is introducing bills this week to impose restrictions on abortion pills over claims that the drugs could be contaminating drinking water. The new legislation in Arizona, Idaho, Maine, West Virginia and Wyoming 鈥 which would require doctors who prescribe abortion pills to make their patients collect and return their expelled fetuses in medical waste bags for disposal 鈥 is the latest development in anti-abortion groups鈥 yearslong campaign to wield environmental laws to cut off access to the drugs. (Wittenberg and Ollstein, 1/30)