Asa Hutchinson: “I hope everybody will read the Murray amendment. In fact, there is nowhere in this amendment that it says a woman who is…”

“I hope everybody will read the Murray amendment. In fact, there is nowhere in this amendment that it says a woman who is seeking an abortion overseas has to pay for it. There is nowhere that it says that. But the current policy in fact is that servicewomen serving overseas do not forfeit their right to obtain an abortion. They may request leave. They fly to the United States, or another country, on a military aircraft, on a space-available basis. The flights are for $10. This amendment should be tabled for a number of reasons. It violates the Hyde amendment. The Department of Defense has said you cannot calculate reimbursement on a case-by-case basis, even if it did say a woman was going to pay. As Senator Murray said, you would have to contract with physicians. That puts us in the position of violating the Hyde amendment by paying these physicians to come into military hospitals to perform abortions. It is going to create untold diplomatic dilemmas because, as Senator Murray said, her amendment will require abortions to be performed in countries that prohibit abortions, such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea. It is going to be a thumb in the eye of our allies. It is going to create untold diplomatic problems. Finally, it turns military hospitals into abortion providers. That is not what we want. That is not what the American people want.”