- Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy opposed reinstating military reimbursements for abortion travel expenses.
- Maloy cited the Hyde Amendment, arguing against taxpayer-funded abortion-related travel.
- The amendment was rejected; the Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year advanced with $830 billion in funding.
WASHINGTON — Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy is pushing back against efforts to reinstate Biden-era policies directing the Defense Department to reimburse costs for service members who travel across state lines to obtain an abortion.
During an appropriations hearing on Thursday, Maloy rejected an amendment seeking to implement a 2022 policy allowing for reimbursements for abortion-related travel and attach it to legislation funding the Defense Department for the 2026 fiscal year. Maloy argued the proposal runs afoul of the Hyde Amendment, a federal statute passed in 1976 prohibiting federal funds from going toward abortion costs, with few exceptions.
"The Hyde Amendment is a clear federal ban on abortion funding, except in the cases of rape, incest and life of the mother," Maloy said in her remarks. "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 amendment, proposed by a Democrat during the appropriations hearing, was ultimately rejected.
The Department of Defense issued a policy shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 that would allow military members to receive travel reimbursements and approved leave for abortion-related reasons. That policy was largely approved to allow service members in states where abortion was banned locally to travel across state lines if needed.
That provision was criticized by Republicans and was rescinded shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January and signed an executive order enforcing the Hyde Amendment and restricting taxpayer dollars from being used for any abortion-related reasons.
Maloy pushed against reinstating that policy, arguing it forces taxpayers to fund travel and lodging costs for a procedure they may disagree with.
"The federal government must exercise restraint and respect diverse moral values of American people," Maloy said. "This amendment is not in the spirit of that neutrality, not in the spirit of the Dobbs decision or the Hyde Amendment."
"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," she added. "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."
Republicans overwhelmingly rejected the amendment and the House Appropriations Committee advanced the larger bill, the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act.
The legislation seeks to provide more than $830 billion to the Defense Department and includes policies to increase pay for military personnel, modernize weapons systems, codify some DOGE suggestions to cut "waste, fraud and abuse" within the department, and more.
