I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2385 

To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct a study 

regarding women involuntarily separated or discharged from the Armed 

Forces due to pregnancy or parenthood, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2021 

Ms. BROWNLEY (for herself, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mrs. 

HAYES, and Ms. HOULAHAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined 

by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 

within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to 

conduct a study regarding women involuntarily separated 

or discharged from the Armed Forces due to pregnancy 

or parenthood, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice for Women 

5 Veterans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) In June 1948, Congress enacted the Wom4 en’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which 

5 formally authorized the appointment and enlistment 

6 of women in the regular components of the Armed 

7 Forces. 

8 (2) With the expansion of the Armed Forces to 

9 include women, the possibility arose for the first 

10 time that members of the regular components of the 

11 Armed Forces could become pregnant. 

12 (3) The response to such possibilities and actu13 alities was Executive Order 10240, signed by Presi14 dent Harry S. Truman in 1951, which granted the 

15 Armed Forces the authority to involuntarily separate 

16 or discharge a woman if she became pregnant, gave 

17 birth to a child, or became a parent by adoption or 

18 a stepparent. 

19 (4) The Armed Forces responded to the Execu20 tive order by systematically discharging any woman 

21 in the Armed Forces who became pregnant, regard22 less of whether the pregnancy was planned, un23 planned, or the result of sexual abuse. 

24 (5) Although the Armed Forces were required 

25 to offer women who were involuntarily separated or 

26 discharged due to pregnancy the opportunity to reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2385.IH H2385

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1 quest retention in the military, many such women 

2 were not offered such opportunity. 

3 (6) The Armed Forces did not provide required 

4 separation benefits, counseling, or assistance to the 

5 members of the Armed Forces who were separated 

6 or discharged due to pregnancy. 

7 (7) Thousands of members of the Armed 

8 Forces were involuntarily separated or discharged 

9 from the Armed Forces as a result of pregnancy. 

10 (8) There are reports that the practice of the 

11 Armed Forces to systematically separate or dis12 charge pregnant members caused some such mem13 bers to seek an unsafe or inaccessible abortion, 

14 which was not legal at the time, or to put their chil15 dren up for adoption, and that, in some cases, some 

16 women died by suicide following their involuntary 

17 separation or discharge from the Armed Forces. 

18 (9) Such involuntary separation or discharge 

19 from the Armed Forces on the basis of pregnancy 

20 was challenged in Federal district court by Steph21 anie Crawford in 1975, whose legal argument stated 

22 that this practice violated her constitutional right to 

23 due process of law. 

24 (10) The Court of Appeals for the Second Cir25 cuit ruled in Stephanie Crawford’s favor in 1976 


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1 and found that Executive Order 10240 and any reg2 ulations relating to the Armed Forces that made 

3 separation or discharge mandatory due to pregnancy 

4 were unconstitutional. 

5 (11) By 1976, all regulations that permitted in6 voluntary separation or discharge of a member of 

7 the Armed Forces because of pregnancy or any form 

8 of parenthood were rescinded. 

9 (12) Today, women comprise 17 percent of the 

10 Armed Forces, and many are parents, including 12 

11 percent of whom are single parents. 

12 (13) While military parents face many hard13 ships, today’s Armed Forces provides various lengths 

14 of paid family leave for mothers and fathers. for 

15 both birth and adoption of children. 

16 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

17 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con18 gress that women who served in the Armed Forces before 

19 February 23, 1976 should not have been involuntarily sep20 arated or discharged due to pregnancy or parenthood. 

21 (b) EXPRESSION OF REMORSE.—Congress hereby ex22 presses deep remorse for the women who patriotically 

23 served in the Armed Forces, but were forced, by official 

24 United States policy, to endure unnecessary and discrimi25 natory actions, including the violation of their constituVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:46 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2385.IH H2385

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1 tional right to due process of law, simply because they be2 came pregnant or became a parent while a member of the 

3 Armed Forces. 

4 SEC. 4. GAO STUDY OF WOMEN INVOLUNTARILY SEPA5 RATED OR DISCHARGED DUE TO PREGNANCY 

6 OR PARENTHOOD. 

7 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—Not later than September 

8 30, 2021, the Comptroller General of the United States 

9 shall conduct a study regarding women involuntarily sepa10 rated or discharged from the Armed Forces due to preg11 nancy or parenthood during the period of 1951 through 

12 1976. The study shall identify— 

13 (1) the number of such women, disaggregated 

14 by— 

15 (A) Armed Force; 

16 (B) grade; 

17 (C) race; and 

18 (D) ethnicity; 

19 (2) the characters of such discharges or separa20 tions; 

21 (3) discrepancies in uniformity of such dis22 charges or separations; 

23 (4) how such discharges or separations affected 

24 access of such women to health care and benefits 

25 through the Department of Veterans Affairs; and 


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1 (5) recommendations for improving access of 

2 such women to resources through the Department of 

3 Veterans Affairs. 

4 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after com5 pleting the study under subsection (a), the Comptroller 

6 General shall submit to Congress a report containing the 

7 results of that study. 

Æ 


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