Women's Rights & Issues
Related: About this forumNYT Editorial~The Rights of Female Soldiers
The Rights of Female Soldiers
Published: May 31, 2012
Republicans even a small number of them joining with Democrats on Capitol Hill to protect womens reproductive rights is a rare and welcome sight. Last week, Senators John McCain of Arizona, Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Susan Collins of Maine voted with nearly all the Democrats on the Armed Services Committee to lift a cruel and insulting law that requires female service members who are victims of rape or incest to pay for abortion care they receive at military facilities.
Under current law, military doctors may perform abortions only in cases of rape, incest or when the womans life is endangered, an outrageous restriction on a womans right to make her own childbearing decisions that imposes special hardship on women serving overseas. The fact that service members who are victims of rape and incest are required to pay for their medical help is further insult to women serving their country.
Civilians who work for the federal government or rely on Medicaid can use their government insurance to pay for abortions in cases of sexual assault as well as life-threatening situations. Female inmates raped in prison also receive government-financed abortion coverage. Granting women who wear the nations uniform lesser abortion coverage is all the more shameful given the serious problem of sexual assault among service members.
The fact that nine Republicans on the committee refused to support the measure is one more reminder of how extreme the partys abortion politics have become. Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, also voted no.
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/opinion/the-rights-of-female-soldiers.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)dana_b
(11,546 posts)and then to have these bozos (yes, I'm being polite) making these important decisions against your interests has to be infuriating. They have no say on so many things already and now they have to put up with more indignities.