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Pentagon to pay travel costs, offer leave for service members who cross state lines to get abortions

The Pentagon will cover some travel and transportation costs for service members who serve in states where abortion is restricted or illegal, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday in a memo that lays out the broad strokes of military policy on the hot-button issue in a post-Roe world.

Saying that limits on access to reproductive health care in some states “will interfere with our ability to recruit, retain and maintain the readiness” of the U.S. military, the defense secretary tried to answer outstanding questions about how the Pentagon will approach abortions following the Supreme Court’s June decision reversing the landmark Roe v.