Press Releases
Rep. Maloy: Policies designed to facilitate abortions have no place in FY26 Defense Bill
Washington, D.C. ,
June 12, 2025
Today, during the House Appropriations Committee markup of the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Bill, Rep. Celeste Maloy (UT-02) spoke in opposition to an amendment that would keep the 2022 Department of Defense policy providing servicemembers with travel reimbursements and leave for abortion services in effect.
Rep. Maloy: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the gentlelady’s amendment. The Hyde Amendment is a clear federal ban on abortion funding, except in the cases of rape, incest and life of the mother. It's been in place every appropriation cycle for 40 years. And I've been here, I've heard a lot of talk about partisanship and how this should not be a partisan bill, but this is a completely partisan amendment, whereas the Hyde Amendment has been a bipartisan consensus for four decades.
The 2022 DoD policy runs around the Hyde Amendment by a travel, leave, and reimbursement policy. But in 1980, SCOTUS in Harris v. McRae said the government isn't obligated to fund or facilitate abortions, and this is a policy that clearly facilitates abortions. And it's not about reproductive care for women. It's about using the ability as the federal government to tax and spend to force Americans to pay for something that they are morally opposed to. Post the Dobbs decision, federal policy is neutrality, not federal imposition. The Federal government must exercise restraint and respect diverse moral values of American people. This amendment is not in the spirit of that neutrality, not in the spirit of the Dobbs decision or the Hyde Amendment. My colleagues’ amendment not only violates that neutrality, but it touches on something else we've been talking about a lot here – Article One authority. This would allow the DOD to make federal abortion policy that isn't in keeping with what Congress has done through the Hyde Amendment, and that's a path that I don't think we should start to go down. Federal abortion policy should be uniform like it has been for 40 years through bipartisan consensus in the Hyde Amendment. Abortions, including abortion travel or enhanced leave policies designed to facilitate abortions, have no place in this bill, and for that reason, Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment, and I yield the rest of my time |