Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced on Tuesday that he’s ending his blockade of hundreds of military promotions, following heavy criticism from many of his colleagues in the Senate and clearing the way for hundreds to be approved.

Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions was over a dispute about a Pentagon abortion policy that provides travel time for service members to seek abortion care if they cannot receive it in the state where they are stationed.

Twenty-five states have restricted access to abortion following last year’s Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

“We fought hard,” Tuberville said, according to a story by The Washington Examiner. “We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach and an abortion policy.”

Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet was among the vocal critics of Tuberville’s stance and went to the Senate floor to speak out against it. In a post on X, Bennet said that he would continue to ask for Tuberville to lift all his holds.

“For nine months, Tuberville’s political games eroded our service members’ trust in Congress and put our national security at risk,” he said, in the post.

Almost 400 military nominations have been in limbo due to Tuberville’s blanket hold on confirmations and promotions for senior military officers. It’s a stance that has left key national security positions unfilled and military families with an uncertain path forward.

Tuberville will continue to block the nominations of four-star generals, which would include the incoming commanders of Colorado Springsbased Space Command and the combined Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command. The two current leaders of the commands in Colorado Springs have been their roles for more than three years.

Some officers caught up in the holds have been able to take their positions, but have not received the associated pay raises and changes in rank.

In September, the civilian secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force also called on Tuberville to end his hold on military nominations, saying it is putting “our national security at risk.” Tuberville was unmoved at the time.

His change of heart comes as the Senate was set to change its rules to allow for the approval of military nominations in groups. The short-term rule change that was approved by a Senate committee in November would not have allowed a single senator to block nominations.

Some of the high-profile officers impacted by the hold in Colorado are:

• Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations commander, who is in line to become the four-star general in charge of Space Command. He could replace Gen. James Dickinson.

• Lt. Gen. Gregory Guillot, who has been nominated to lead Northern Command and NORAD as a four-star general. He is the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command. He is in line to replace Gen. Glen VanHerck.

• Brig. Gen. Tim Sejba, who is now leading the Space Training and Readiness Command, but has not received his promotion to major general. Sejba was sworn in during July.

• Brig. Gen. Laura Clellan, leader of Colorado’s National Guard, who has been nominated to be a major general.