Written by Linsay Rousseau, Media Affairs Director for Continue To Serve
I am a disable Army Iraq War combat veteran. I am a survivor of military sexual trauma (rape, to put it more clearly) and domestic violence. I know what it’s like to feel lesser than my male counterparts and have my bodily autonomy taken away from me. On June 24th, 2022, I and 331,893,745 other women (50.8% of the population) once again became second-class citizens in the United States. While this is devastating for women across the country, the elimination of federal abortion protection has left the 400,000 women serving in the U.S. military and over one million female dependents (as well as civilian contractors) trapped in an incredibly precarious situation.
As of 2020, nearly half (4.71 million or 49.06%) of all military health service (MHS) beneficiaries around the world are women.
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More than 1.3 million female MHS beneficiaries are living in states that have enacted laws to ban abortion.
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Nearly one million women of reproductive age who rely on MHS live in states that have now banned, or are in the process of banning, abortion.
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The unexpected pregnancy rate is 40% higher than in the civilian world, which poses a severe threat to military readiness.
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Over 20,000 servicemembers were sexually assaulted in 2019 and Congress is still refusing to pass the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act (MJIIPA).
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The 2019 Department of Defense Report on Sexual Assault in the Military found that assaults on men in the military remained flat while assaults on women recorded their biggest increase in years. It noted that, “Women are only about 20 percent of the military but are the targets of 63 percent of assaults, with the youngest and lowest-ranking women most at risk.”
If Congress isn't going to do anything about the shockingly high levels of rape in the armed services, then it needs to expand access to abortion if it hopes to maintain command readiness. The members of our armed services often have no choice as to what state they are stationed in. They cannot refuse orders. Here are just two potential consequences to a post-Roe country that doesn’t expand abortion access on MHS:
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Servicewomen and servicemembers with female dependents refuse orders to be stationed in states where abortion is banned.
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Servicemembers decide to leave the military rather than be stationed in a state where women are second class citizens. This would also lead to a freezing affect on (already low) enlistments as potential recruits fear being stationed in a state where they or their female dependents have no access to abortion.
As a result of the Hyde Amendment (originally passed in 1976 and re-enacted every year since), MHS covers abortions only if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or if carrying the pregnancy to term would put the patient’s life at risk. This applies not only to servicewomen, but also military spouses and children. That means that any woman seeking an abortion outside of these circumstances (or if her doctor doesn’t believe she was raped) must tell their chain of command, get leave approved, and travel to a civilian clinic at her own expense. If she is overseas, she can seek an off-base abortion if stationed in a country where the practice is legal and safe, which isn’t always the case. And of course, if serving in a combat zone, this definitely isn’t possible.
While higher ranking officers might have the funds and flexibility to fly to a different state to seek abortion services, this isn’t the reality for many junior servicemembers, who make up the majority of the military and the majority of those assaulted. “So many of them are junior service members, who don’t make a lot of money, who don’t have any resources to leave base…They may face leave policies that are restrictive or retaliation. And the worst case scenario, which is very real, is that they can be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy,” stated Jackii Wang, legislative analyst for the National Women’s Law Center’s reproductive rights and health team.
There is also the serious concern over fears of stigma and that the person they have to ask permission from for leave will tell others. We are at risk of entering a new era of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell concerning abortion. According to a 2017 study by Ibis Reproductive Health, “servicewomen in the US military report a lack of support and fears about confidentiality, stigma, and negative career impacts when they choose to have an abortion.” With so many states banning abortion, this will only get worse. Instead of needing a few hours or a day off to travel to a clinic, servicewomen will now be forced to ask for multiple days of leave to travel out-of-state and most certainly won’t be able to conceal the reason why.
Democrats in Congress are pushing to increase access to abortion for members of the military through it’s annual funding bill for the Defense Department. The bill would require the Pentagon to provide leave to troops and civilian employees seeking abortions. House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, (D-CT), said that U.S. military members should be allowed to decide whether to keep or terminate a pregnancy in consultation with their doctors. “However we feel about the decision of abortion, we should not deny a service member who has made the decision to serve our country the ability to take leave that she is entitled to for a safe and currently-legal procedure,” DeLauro said. The U.S. Army and Air Force have updated their policies for abortion leave within the last year, preventing commanding officers from denying leave for that purpose. We have to thank Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for standing up for the rights of women in the military. Following the release of the SCOTUS decision, Secretary Austin said, "nothing is more important to me or to this department than the health and well-being of our service members, the civilian workforce, and DOD families. I am committed to taking care of our people and ensuring the readiness and resilience of our force."
As encouraging as this all sounds, these steps alone aren’t enough and could be reversed by a future president or congress. The only way to fully protect women in the military, female dependents and civilian contractors is with the passage of the MARCH for Servicemembers Act. Introduced on June 9th by Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), the Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health for Military Servicemembers Act would eliminate military abortion bans and expand access to abortion for military servicemembers and their dependents. Sen. Gillibrand stated, “The MARCH for Servicemembers Act would empower the Department of Defense to protect the constitutional right for service members to make decisions they need to safeguard their health. We need to honor our service members and provide women on the front lines with the health care services they deserve, no matter where they are stationed.” I would also add that there needs to be a sister bill that applies to the Department of Veterans Affairs, to ensure the one million women receiving health care through VA facilities also have access to safe abortions. An astounding 41.5% of women veterans reported that they experienced military sexual trauma during their time in service. The government has failed to protect women in the military. It needs to protect them and their veteran sisters now by ending the ban on abortions on military bases and in VA health care centers.