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A new bill drafted by the House Democrats this week would make it illegal for the Pentagon to deny service members and civilian employees leave to get an abortion.

The new bill was added to a Defense funding package that would give the military $760 billion.

According to the Appropriation Committee’s website, if approved the bill would “Prohibits funds for denying leave to servicemembers or civilians requesting leave to obtain an abortion.”

While the new bill is certain to upset pro-life activists, it’s unclear what effect it would have on the military. The military is currently subject to the Hyde Amendment, which prevents government money from being spent on most abortions. The military’s healthcare program, TriCare, only covers abortion in very limited scenarios such as rape, incest, or if the mother’s life is at risk.

The bill goes on to also protect leave for people helping someone get an abortion, they cannot block anyone “who is the spouse, partner, or significant other of a pregnant individual and requests leave to assist that individual in obtaining an abortion.”

Essentially the new bill will just stop military funds from being used to prevent military members and employees from getting abortions, although it is not entirely clear how this could happen.

The new action by House Democrats is almost certainly in relation to the news that the Supreme Court intends to reverse the decision in Roe v Wade that made abortion a constitutional right. The new legislation will still have to pass the Senate as well before getting signed, leaving ample opportunity for the upper chamber to remove the language.

Democrats have failed to pass any meaningful legislation to codify abortion for nearly 50 years now since Roe v Wade was decided. Now they are making last minute gestures to try and satisfy their angry base. Do you think the tiny change in military protocol will be enough to save them or are they about to lose big on abortion?