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Excerpt from the full fact sheet:
- In 1995, an anti-choice majority in Congress wrote into permanent law, through the FY'96 Department of Defense authorization act, a ban on privately funded abortion services at overseas military facilities for U.S. servicewomen, except for cases where a woman is the victim of rape or incest. The DoD will only pay for abortion services in cases of life endangerment.
- According to congressional sources, more than 100,000 women – active service members, spouses and dependents of military personnel – live on military bases overseas and rely on military hospitals for their health care. The ban on privately funded abortion care discriminates against women and their families who have volunteered to serve their country by prohibiting them from exercising their legally protected right to choose simply because they are stationed overseas.
- Prohibiting women from using their own funds to obtain abortion services at overseas military facilities endangers their health. Women stationed overseas depend on their base hospitals for medical care, and are often situated in areas where local facilities are inadequate or unavailable.
- The current policy humiliates servicewomen by forcing them to seek the approval of their commanding officer in order to travel back to the United States for abortion services. This dynamic may deter servicewomen from seeking basic health-care services. The current-law ban may cause a woman stationed overseas who is facing an unintended pregnancy to be forced to delay the procedure for several weeks until she can travel to a location where safe, adequate care is available. For each week an abortion is delayed, the potential risk to the woman's health increases.
- If the ban is lifted, no taxpayer dollars would be spent covering the costs of abortion care at overseas military facilities. "Conscience clauses" that all three branches of the military have would remain intact.
Download the fact sheet (PDF) |
