Retired Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications, defended the controversial Pentagon abortion policy on Monday.
The official told reporters that he believes the Department of Defense's move to reimburse the travel of United States service members and provide them paid leave to receive abortions is "just the right darn thing to do."
"You go where you're told. That's the way orders work," Kirby explained. "What happens if you get assigned to a state like Alabama, which has a pretty restrictive abortion law in place? And you're concerned about your reproductive care? What do you do?
"Do you say no, and you get out? Well, some people may decide to do that, and ... that means we lose talent, important talent. It can have an extremely, extremely significant impact on our recruiting and our retention."
Kirby claimed that attempts to protest the policy made by Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, have already caused substantial morale issues amongst female recruits in the military.
Tuberville has been holding up over 250 military promotions in the upper chamber to protest the policy. Meanwhile, the House version of this year's National Defense Authorization Act includes an explicit repeal of it.
"If you don't think there's going to be a retention and a morale issue, think again because it's already having that effect," Kirby stated.
President Joe Biden condemned Tuberville's protest last week during a press conference in Europe, characterizing it as an "irresponsible" stunt that is "jeopardizing" national security.
"The idea that we're injecting into fundamental foreign policy decisions what, in fact, is a domestic social debate on social issues is bizarre," Biden said, offering to sit down with the senator.
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