Coach Tuberville Urges Everyone to Get in the Game Defending Life

Last Thursday, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) continued his months-long hold on over 200 Department of Defense promotions. This was the ninth attempt by Senate Democrats to break Tuberville’s one-man stand, but the Auburn coach-turned-U.S.-senator is holding the line until the Pentagon reverses its military abortion policy.

Tuberville’s actions were triggered by an October 2022 policy issued by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The memo stated that the Pentagon will allow “administrative absence” and fund travel for elective abortion for servicemembers and their dependents. This funding, of course, comes directly from American taxpayers, many of whom object to it.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last week that Tuberville’s hold is “a threat to our national security,” despite the fact that his actions don’t prevent DOD nominees from being confirmed. What it does is stop the Senate from acting to confirm nominees in larger groups. The Senate could still confirm these nominees on an individual basis.

Since initially placing the hold on promotions in February of this year, Tuberville has fiercely defended unborn life and American taxpayers. He argues that the Pentagon’s policy isn’t legal, pointing out that abortion is only covered by the department in the instances of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother. 

He goes further, noting how the memo issued by Secretary Austin was far outside of the department’s power. In a piece for The Washington Times, Tuberville asserted, “Under the Constitution, Congress writes the laws, and Congress directs all federal spending. Yet Mr. Austin has effectively changed the law and spent money without Congress taking a vote. That’s a dangerous overreach by the executive branch.”

Tuesday, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh argued that “without these leaders in place, these holes severely limit the department’s ability to ensure the right person is in place at the right time, and to ensure a strategic readiness and operational success.”

Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin, who now serves as the executive vice president of Family Research Council, refuted this claim in an interview on Tuesday’s edition of “Washington Watch.” “This is nonsense,” Boykin fired back. “They’re not being truthful with us — not only about the law itself, but the fact of the matter is, every one of those people that is on the promotion list that they have an assignment for, they can put them there at their current rank.” Boykin clarified that these are nominees that have not yet received their promotion, not empty desks waiting to be filled.

In his opinion, the White House and DOD are just stirring up fear in the American people to push their abortion extremism.

Tuberville agreed, pointing out on “Washington Watch” Tuesday that no one in the Biden administration has never even tried to meet with him about this so-called recruiting crisis. “They never say anything to me. There’s no discussion. There’s no dialogue. I’ve never heard from the White House. I’ve had a 10-minute discussion with the Department of Defense in the last four months, and that’s it. And you’d think if they’re having problems with military readiness, if I was the president of the United States, the leader of this country, I’d call over and say, ‘Listen, coach, could you come visit with me? Let’s sit down in my office and get this worked out, because we have huge problems.’”

At the end of the day, the senator said, “Their job is to go by the laws that we pass in Congress, not to make the laws in the White House.” And the law, under the Hyde Amendment, bans taxpayer-funded abortion — in the military and across the federal government.

This policy from the Department of Defense is just one of the numerous actions that the Biden administration has taken to push abortion on demand at the federal level, and make taxpayers fund it. Most notably, the administration has disregarded safety by increasing access to the dangerous chemical abortion drug mifepristone and supported the removal of well-established pro-life policy riders that protect taxpayers from funding abortion.

For an administration that so often claims moral superiority over conservatives and pretends to care about Americans’ safety, they are indifferent to the unique human life that is violently ended in every abortion. Instead, they promote this gross human rights violation and will stop at nothing until they have enshrined abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy and forced the American taxpayer foot the bill.

Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, the need for pro-life advocates has only grown. As the Left becomes more ruthless in its abortion agenda, it has become increasingly clear who in Congress is willing to lead the fight for life. Tuberville is demonstrating what it truly looks like to be a pro-life member of congress and not bow to external pressure.

In the meantime, he told FRC President Tony Perkins, his resolve has only grown. “I’m a Christian conservative Republican,” Tuberville explained. “And I believe [in] the sanctity of life and protecting that life. And I don’t think that we get far enough into that sometimes. But that being said, we need to speak out every day for this. I’ve drawn more than a red line. I’ve gotten even stronger in my belief of what I’m doing,” he stated. And so, his hold remains as he champions the unborn and fights taxpayer funded abortion.

Coach Tuberville is also encouraging Americans to call their federal legislators and demand they advocate for life. “Call your congressmen and put your two cents worth in, the people that represent your community, and let them know how you stand on this … because it’s going to get rougher as it goes. I’m tough. I’ve been called everything in the world being a coach. But we’re going to need people standing up in their communities letting their congressmen know exactly what they believe and how they want them to stand up,” he said.

It’s time that Tuberville’s colleagues and pro-life Americans take a lesson from Coach’s playbook — defending the unborn is worth it, no matter how tough the fight gets.

Gwen Charles is a 2023 Auburn University graduate.