Back in 2022, The Heritage Foundation used a Freedom of Information Act request to demand emails and other communication that show the Pentagon is paying for servicemembers’ elective abortions. Because the Pentagon is dragging its feet over the public document, Heritage plans to sue in court.
Heritage attorney Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel of the organization’s Oversight Project, says the public has a right to government records.
“We submitted a request for that data. They ignored it,” he says. “So we are suing to get the data.”
The current abortion policy at the Department of Defense, known as “covered abortion,” helps women in the case of rape or incest, or if the women’s life is in danger. That allowance is described in current U.S. Code but Heritage wants to know if the Pentagon is paying for – and documenting – other abortions that do not meet that legal requirement.
And it’s not like the Department of Defense is hiding its liberal policy: A February press release announced new policies for “non-covered reproductive health care,” meaning abortions.
When the Pentagon finally hands over the documents, Brosnan says Heritage plans to pass them to legislators, policy makers and attorneys who can use them to stop the misuse of tax dollars.
