Reading Room Document
Authority of the Department of Defense to Use Appropriations for Travel by Service Members and Dependents to Obtain Abortions
The Department of Defense may lawfully expend funds to pay for service members and their dependents to travel to obtain abortions that DoD cannot itself perform due to statutory restrictions. DoD may lawfully expend funds to pay for such travel pursuant to both its express statutory authorities and, independently, the necessary expense doctrine. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1545696/download.
The OLC's Opinions
Opinions published by the OLC, including those released in response to our FOIA lawsuit