In defense of Tommy Tuberville’s hold over Pentagon abortion policy 

Courage begets courage. 

Who would have thought that a former college football coach-turned-U.S. senator would take Washington by storm in a courageous attempt to protect both life and American taxpayers. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), the former head coach of Auburn University’s winning football team, is now the bane of the Democratic Party and its media allies. President Joe Biden has called him out by name, and even sports writers are piling on this championship-winning coach they once applauded. 

What’s Tuberville’s crime? He is using the rules of the Senate to point to the Biden administration’s efforts to circumvent the law to use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions and travel reimbursement for military members to get abortions. Tuberville has placed a hold on military nominations and promotions until Biden stops this illegal use of funds. Congress approves military expenses through the appropriations process but has never authorized travel reimbursement for military personnel’s abortions.  

As a mom of a young man who will soon be an Army second lieutenant, I am appalled that Biden is disregarding the law and using money that should go for military readiness, training and weapons for our troops to satisfy his political agenda. This is not new. Democrats have repeatedly tried to use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as a Trojan horse for their radical policies.   

Whether it is paying for transgender surgeries and hormone therapies for military personnel to change their gender, pushing pride month activities in the barracks, flying rainbow flags on our military installations or suggesting women should be drafted, the left’s goal has never been to support the military but to sacrifice it to satisfy their radical policy agenda.  

Now it is abortions and abortion travel as the Senate debated the NDAA this week. 

The Constitution gives the president the role of commander in chief, but where does paying for abortion fit into this role?   

Since 1977, the Hyde Amendment has prohibited taxpayer funding of abortion and has historically received support from most Americans and members of Congress, including then-Sen. Joe Biden. By reversing his position, Biden is sullying the military in this flagrant abuse of the law. 

Tuberville is standing for principle against Biden, the Democratic Party and most of the media. Even many of Tuberville’s Republican colleagues are asking why he’s holding up hundreds of military promotions.  

But a better question is: Where are the rest of the senators in calling out the administration as it attempts to force taxpayers to pay for abortions for military members? Instead of blocking and tackling for coach while he’s being pummeled by the left, his fellow Republicans are not even on the field; some even seem to be playing for the opposing team.  

They should take a page from coach’s playbook and muster up the courage to challenge Biden’s lawlessness on abortion.  

Penny Nance is CEO and president of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.