Women in the military have not had access to abortion care since 1978, when Congress introduced an amendment to a Department of Defense (DoD) appropriations bill, later codified under 10 U.S.C. § 1093, that prohibited the use of DoD funds for abortions. While women have endured this second-class health care for over four decades, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has created new problems for servicewomen and the military writ large. Now military women must travel off-base and, in some instances, out-of-state or out-of-country, to seek an abortion. While women in and out of uniform share this burden, servicewomen must comply with military constraints that exacerbate their situation, including following orders that require them to be stationed in states that criminalize abortion, reporting their pregnancy up their chain of command, following leave protocols that require their commander’s approval when traveling for abortion care, and managing unpredictable assignments, including deployments, while seeking reproductive care. These unique circumstances create an unwelcoming and terrifying environment for military women at a time when the military is desperately trying to diversify the armed forces.
\nThe DoD responded to the Dobbs decision by instituting an abortion travel policy, now rescinded, that allowed service members to be reimbursed for abortion-related travel, such as lodging, mileage, and per diem. While such policies are laudable, they are subject to change, and they do not diminish the legal and professional challenges that service members face after Dobbs. This Article analyzes the legal authorities that shape reproductive health policies in the military. It argues that the swirling political winds that influence abortion policies undermine the stability that military health care is meant to provide. Despite the hardships that service members face after Dobbs, renewed challenges to 10 U.S.C. § 1093 are likely to fail. However, Congress’s statutory ban should not prohibit the DoD from exploring alternative means of providing support to service members. The Article argues for increased confidentiality for pregnant servicewomen and argues that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should be utilized to provide abortion services to servicewomen. The DoD must encourage formal and informal support networks and must leverage private organizations as gap-fillers where military health care falls short. The Article concludes that the military’s crippled reproductive health services are unacceptable in the age of Dobbs and that their detrimental impact on service members and national security is a national crisis. Unless reproductive services are expanded, the abortion issue will continue to impact national security and will hamstring the military’s efforts to modernize.
","language":null,"license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[],"section":"Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6wb7b5vd","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Hugh","middle_name":"","last_name":"McClean","name_suffix":"","institution":"","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2026-02-05T19:42:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/ucilr/article/62306/galley/48147/download/"}]}