• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington July 11, 2023. Tuberville told reporters on Capitol Hill Dec. 5 that he would end his monthslong blockade on hundreds of military promotions undertaken in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy. (OSV News photo/Kevin Wurm, Reuters)

Tuberville ends hold on hundreds of military promotions over Pentagon abortion policy

December 6, 2023
By Kate Scanlon
OSV News
Filed Under: Feature, News, Respect Life, U.S. Congress, World News

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told reporters on Capitol Hill Dec. 5 that he would end his monthslong blockade on hundreds of military promotions undertaken in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy.

Tuberville said he agreed to an arrangement with Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, that would release all of his holds on military officers at the three-star level and below, but his holds on some nominations for four-star generals and officers would remain in place for now.

“I’m releasing everybody,” Tuberville told reporters. “I still got a hold on, I think, 11 four-star generals. Everybody else is completely released from me. But other than that, it’s over.”

Since March 8, Tuberville had blocked nominations by denying the Senate the ability to confirm nominees through unanimous consent, a procedure in which the Senate considers a matter agreed to if no senator objects. Any one senator can block that process. Such military nominations are generally approved by unanimous consent rather than through individual votes.

Tuberville used the Senate procedure to block hundreds of military promotions in protest against the Pentagon’s abortion policy allowing service members to be reimbursed for travel costs associated with getting an abortion, along with his criticisms of what he called the military’s “woke politics.”

He has come under criticism from not only the White House and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for doing so, but also from members of his own party. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has previously stated he does not support Tuberville’s blockade.

Critics argued that the blockade left military families in the lurch regarding family moves, with children unable to enroll in schools and spouses unable to seek new employment in their newly assigned locations.

Tensions between Tuberville and his fellow Senate Republicans spilled into the open Nov. 1 on the Senate floor, as some with military backgrounds challenged his blockade on the confirmations of senior military nominees over the Pentagon’s abortion policy. At that time, Ernst, both a veteran and a former military spouse who is pro-life, argued that Tuberville’s blockade disrespected service members and their families more than it challenged the abortion policy, which she said would be better challenged in court.

But Politico reported that Tuberville’s office asked pro-life groups to “make clear” to GOP senators that they risked primary challenges if they did not back his effort.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters Dec. 5 Tuberville’s blockade was “unnecessary and harmful.”

“I’m happy we can finally move forward and give these men and women the promotion they deserve,” he said. “I plan to move these promotions as soon as possible.”

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred and must be respected from conception to natural death. As such, the church opposes direct abortion as an act of violence that takes the life of the unborn child.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which returned the matter of regulating or restricting abortion back to the legislative branch, church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child, as well as about social issues that push women toward having an abortion.

Read More U.S. Congress

Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing

White House agrees to exempt PEPFAR from rescissions package

House approves Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ after Senate passage

Senate passes Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’; measure heads to House

US bishops’ conference calls for ‘drastic changes’ in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

House Republicans advance bill to repeal FACE Act

Copyright © 2023 OSV News

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Kate Scanlon

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Hunt Valley parishioner recalls her former student – a future pope

  • superman Movie Review: ‘Superman’

  • Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

  • Loyola University Maryland graduate ordained Jesuit priest

  • Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

| Latest Local News |

Lay associates journey with the Oblate Sisters of Providence

Father Robert Wojsław dies at 52

Scopes Monkey Trial ignited century-long debate on evolution and belief 

Deacon Gary Elliott Dumer Jr., active in men’s ministry, dies

Radio Interview: The music and ministry of Seph Schlueter

| Latest World News |

Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says

Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza

School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others

Two dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack

Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Filled with hope, Christians know cries of the innocent will be heard, pope says
  • Pope calls for ceasefire, dialogue, peace after church hit in Gaza
  • School club gives students chance to benefit veterans, fosters Gospel value of serving others
  • Two dead, Holy Family Gaza pastor injured after mid-morning Israeli attack
  • Top Republican appears to walk back probe of Catholic entities amid charged committee hearing
  • Mahmoud v. Taylor: A Supreme Court victory for parents, freedom
  • Church leaders, faithful in procession to Detroit ICE office call for just immigration policies
  • Study: Devotion to Mary has significant impact on discerning, sustaining vocations
  • How and why to laugh like a saint

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED