LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has penned a letter to the Biden administration asking to rescind a Department of Defense rule that allows for reimbursing service members for travel expenses to obtain an abortion.
In the letter to President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Sanders called abortion a "barbaric practice" and asked the administration to rescind the reimbursement policy.
Under the Department of Defense rules, abortion services can be performed for a service member, their dependents or other eligible beneficiaries to save the mother's life or in cases of rape or incest.
The department will also pay travel expenses for an abortion if the services are not available in their local area. A service member would have to provide a commanding officer with documentation "indicating the need to travel for a necessary medical procedure."
Sanders cited the voluntary resignation of Col. Dillon R. Patterson from commanding the 188th Wing of the Arkansas Air National Guard in her letter. Patterson stepped down due to his religious beliefs "against abortion."
"Because he adhered first to his faith instead of overtly political mandates, he voluntarily resigned his command," she said. ".I admire Col. Patterson for having the confidence of his convictions, but regret that our nation’s military will suffer the loss of a dedicated airman, leader, and guardsman as a commander."
Arkansas currently has banned abortion due to a trigger law that banned the practice following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Abortions are only allowed in the state except to save the mother's life in a "medical emergency." There is no exception for rape or incest.
Sec. Austin issued the policy changes in Oct. 2022 that would "ensure" that service members would have access to reproductive health care.
Patterson took command of the 188th Wing in June 2023 when the Dept. of Defense's policy was already in place.
Sanders claimed in the letter that "half the country" decided that abortions were "contrary to the public interest." Immediately following the Supreme Court ruling, fourteen states banned abortions while other states like Michigan and Ohio have codified abortion protections into their constitutions.
"It is apparently not enough for this administration that abortion be available in some states and regulated in others. Thus, the Department of Defense must now apparently sacrifice lifelong personnel's leadership in the name of military readiness—a laughable paradox if it were not so deeply offensive and damaging," Sanders said.
The governor ended the letter asserting that the Biden administration "abandoned" Col. Patteron's constitutional right to freedom of religion for "more fashionable political and social experiments."
"Rescind this policy immediately," she said.