This policy was put into place in the weeks following the Supreme Court's 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade. At that time, Biden instructed the Executive branch to find every avenue possible to expand access to abortion using a combination of executive orders and other administrative wizardry. The result was taxpayer money going to fund abortions in Africa, courtesy of the State Department, abortion coverage introduced at VA facilities, and, last but not least, all-expenses-paid trips for U.S. service members who are seeking abortions in other states. Again, all on the taxpayers' dime.

This is not legal, and Tommy Tuberville knew it. The Biden administration completely bypassed Congress in its sick devotion to killing babies; they knew they were unlikely to get congressional approval for their radical agenda, so they just did it illegally. Always remember, kids: Joe Biden is a devout Catholic!

Tuberville decided to take a stand the best way he knew how — by being a piece of sand in the gears of the DoD. For a year now, he has been putting holds on military promotions until the Biden administration reverses course on their directive. That hasn't happened, of course, so Tuberville has held up the promotions of a few hundred high-ranking military officials. 

Last Wednesday, many of his Republican colleagues apparently decided they had had enough of Tuberville's stalwart pro-life stance and decided to side with the pro-abortion Democrats in calling for an end to the holds. That whole "party of life" thing went out the window with every angry word the likes of Joni Ernst, Lindsey Graham, and Mitt Romney spit at Tuberville.

At the hearing to consider the promotions of several hundred officers, Tuberville explained his position from the Senate floor: "The Pentagon is now paying for travel and extra time off for service members and their dependents to get abortions. Congress never voted for this. We also never appropriated the money for this. There is no law that allows them to do this."

Ernst, a military veteran, seemingly didn't care for this stance, telling Tuberville, "Men and women have been denied promotions. We have done best we can to honor request of a fellow senator that these nominations be brought to floor and voted on individually. I really respect men of their word. I do not respect men who do not honor their word."

Is Joni Ernst the friend of the pro-life community she ran as? On Monday, she issued a statement condemning the Biden administration for funding abortions for minors at the border, but is she keeping her word when she chooses to side with Democrats by saying taxpayer-funded abortion jaunts for service members are a-okay, but abortions at the border are not?

The justification Republicans like Ernst used to turn on Tuberville was the idea that the backlog of military promotions would somehow affect military readiness. Sullivan even said that "the holds pose a strategic risk to our forces.” But there is little to no evidence that is the case. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is perfectly able to file cloture on any nominee at any time and have the Senate vote to confirm him or her. But he won’t, as one observer noted, "because in his mind, that means Sen. Tuberville wins. It is hard to take Sen. Tuberville’s critics seriously when they claim he’s harming military readiness when all they have to do to get the promotions done is follow their rules."

As RedState's own streiff noted earlier this year, 

Truth be told, nothing Tuberville is doing has any effect on national defense. All he is doing is inconveniencing a handful of senior officers. This is only happening because [Secretary of Defense] Austin is a DIE warrior with an entitlement mentality that says he’s above the law. We owe Senator Tuberville a debt of gratitude for reining in the arrogance of Secretary Austin and reminding him that no matter how big his ego is, he’s not above the law.

The phrase "When people tell you who they are, believe them" has been bandied about quite a bit of late. Don't get tired of hearing, though, and really take a closer look at what your presumed allies are doing and saying.

When it came time to protect life, Tommy Tuberville stood up and stood strong. His Republican colleagues, meanwhile, are failing to stand with him and are putting promotions over protecting life.