New military abortion policies allow for travel expenses, up to 3 weeks of leave

Christine Fernando, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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The Department of Defensereleased a series of new policies Thursday that support service members and dependents traveling out of state for abortion care, including paid travel expenses and up to three weeks of administrative leave.

"Such travel helps to ensure that Service members and their dependents can access care regardless of where they are stationed," Gilbert Cisneros, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a Thursday memo. "This policy reflects our continued commitment to taking care of our people and ensuring that the entire Force remains ready and resilient."

The policy will go into effect by March 18.

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What are the new military policies for abortion care?

The new policies:

  • Extend the timeline by which service members have to inform commanders of a pregnancy to 20 weeks.

  • Allow service members to request administrative absence of up to three weeks to access abortion care without having to take leave. This also applies to those accessing other reproductive health care, including in vitro fertilization.

  • Enable travel and transportation allowances to be authorized for service members and dependents traveling for abortion care.

  • Forbid commanders from requiring service members to comply with any additional requirements before accessing abortion care.

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"Our Service members and their families do not control where they are stationed, and due to the nature of military service, are frequently required to travel or move to meet operational requirements," the Defense Department said in a statement announcing the new policies. "The efforts taken by the Department today will not only ensure that Service members and their families are afforded time and flexibility to make private health care decisions, but will also ensure Service members are able to access non-covered reproductive health care regardless of where they are stationed."

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Contact Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Military abortion policy: Service members get 3 weeks leave for travel