Posted on 07/01/2002 7:42:32 AM PDT by TADSLOS
The right to abortion is the law of the land — and the law should extend to all women serving in the military, whether stationed in the U.S. or overseas.
The U.S. Senate, led by Sens. Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, and Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, recently agreed to lift the ban on abortions at military hospitals around the world.
This is not a dispute about who pays. Federal funding to help military personnel and dependents obtain abortions at military hospitals was outlawed except under certain circumstances in 1979, and would remain so.
Under the Murray-Snowe amendment, women undergoing the procedure would use their own money to pay the costs, and military personnel could not be compelled to perform an abortion.
Women in the military are committed to protecting our rights as free citizens, yet they are denied one of the most basic rights afforded all women in this country, said Murray.
She is quite right. The U.S. cannot staff a military without the help of capable women. It is unfair to treat women working overseas differently than counterparts in the U.S.
The only explanation for differential treatment is the anti-abortion lobby, which could not undo all abortion rights and resorted to an easier fight at overseas military hospitals.
The result is women overseas risk going to a doctor who doesn't speak English or who might not be trained to American standards.
The other choice violates a woman's privacy: Women overseas seeking abortion have to go to their commanding officer to gain permission to return to the U.S. to get an abortion.
The House, long reluctant to support such policies, should re-think its position on a volatile issue. Military women stationed overseas have been props in a tough political tussle long enough.
She is quite wrong. The U.S. chooses to include women in the military, it's not a compulsary decsion, and, fair or not, this attempt to amend the current law will set an alarming precendent, if passed, for a claim to Federally funded and executed baby killings throughout the country (Hey, if it's good enough for our gals in uniform, it's good enough for the rest of us).
The other choice violates a woman's privacy: Women overseas seeking abortion have to go to their commanding officer to gain permission to return to the U.S. to get an abortion.
Certain aspects of privacy is a privelage, not a right, in the military, especially under those situations in which your condition as a servicemember changes your deployment status - a concept that the Senate and this editorial staff fails to grasp. This legislation, besides being morally wrong, just adds to the litany of obstacles faced in front of military commanders to meet mission requirements. Disgusting, really.
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