In a press release issued on Feb. 16, the Department of Defense announced that it has issued policy memoranda (full texts1, 2, 3) that assure access to reproductive health care for service members. Among other things, the policies will now allow service members to receive travel and transportation allowances if abortion or assisted reproduction services are not available in the local area. The health care services however are at the service member's own expense. Different policies apply to covered abortions, those where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest.
