Asa Hutchinson: “Let me clarify a couple of things from my perspective. It has been alleged that if you have a servicewoman who is…”

“Let me clarify a couple of things from my perspective. It has been alleged that if you have a servicewoman who is seeking an abortion under current policy, you put her on an aircraft, fly her back to the U.S. at taxpayers' expense, and therefore what is the difference? And the only reason we want to maintain the current policy is we want to put an impediment up to a woman having an abortion. The current DOD policy for servicewomen seeking to obtain abortions is that they may fly on a space-available basis, if the aircraft are already making the trip for operational reasons--not for the purpose of facilitating abortions. Space-available transportation is available for any service member on leave regardless of what their motivation is. These aircraft have been referred to repeatedly during the debate as 'cargo aircraft.' In fact, these aircraft have passenger seats just as on civilian airlines. I wish to propound a series of questions to the distinguished Senator from Washington, Mrs. Murray, on my time. I ask the Senator exactly how she would calculate the cost of reimbursing DOD for the expense of an abortion procedure.”