I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7383 

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 

JUNE 26, 2020 

Ms. BROWNLEY of California 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. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) In June 1948, Congress enacted the Wom6 en’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, which 

7 formally authorized the appointment and enlistment 


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1 of women in the regular components of the Armed 

2 Forces. 

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

4 include women, the possibility arose for the first 

5 time that members of the regular components of the 

6 Armed Forces could become pregnant. 

7 (3) The response to such possibilities and actu8 alities was Executive Order 10240, signed by Presi9 dent Harry S. Truman in 1951, which granted the 

10 Armed Forces the authority to involuntarily separate 

11 or discharge a woman if she became pregnant, gave 

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

13 a stepparent. 

14 (4) The Armed Forces responded to the Execu15 tive order by systematically discharging any woman 

16 in the Armed Forces who became pregnant, regard17 less of whether the pregnancy was planned, un18 planned, or the result of sexual abuse. 

19 (5) Although the Armed Forces were required 

20 to offer women who were involuntarily separated or 

21 discharged due to pregnancy the opportunity to re22 quest retention in the military, many such women 

23 were not offered such opportunity. 

24 (6) The Armed Forces did not provide required 

25 separation benefits, counseling, or assistance to the 


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1 members of the Armed Forces who were separated 

2 or discharged due to pregnancy. 

3 (7) Thousands of members of the Armed 

4 Forces were involuntarily separated or discharged 

5 from the Armed Forces as a result of pregnancy. 

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

7 Armed Forces to systematically separate or dis8 charge pregnant members caused some such mem9 bers to seek an unsafe or inaccessible abortion, 

10 which was not legal at the time, or to put their chil11 dren up for adoption, and that, in some cases, some 

12 women died by suicide following their involuntary 

13 separation or discharge from the Armed Forces. 

14 (9) Such involuntary separation or discharge 

15 from the Armed Forces on the basis of pregnancy 

16 was challenged in Federal district court by Steph17 anie Crawford in 1975, whose legal argument stated 

18 that this practice violated her constitutional right to 

19 due process of law. 

20 (10) The Court of Appeals for the Second Cir21 cuit ruled in Stephanie Crawford’s favor in 1976 

22 and found that Executive Order 10240 and any reg23 ulations relating to the Armed Forces that made 

24 separation or discharge mandatory due to pregnancy 

25 were unconstitutional. 


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1 (11) By 1976, all regulations that permitted in2 voluntary separation or discharge of a member of 

3 the Armed Forces because of pregnancy or any form 

4 of parenthood were rescinded. 

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

6 Armed Forces, and many are parents, including 12 

7 percent of whom are single parents. 

8 (13) While military parents face many hard9 ships, today’s Armed Forces provides various lengths 

10 of paid family leave for mothers and fathers, for 

11 both birth and adoption of children. 

12 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con14 gress that women who served in the Armed Forces before 

15 February 23, 1976, should not have been involuntarily 

16 separated or discharged due to pregnancy or parenthood. 

17 (b) EXPRESSION OF REMORSE.—Congress hereby ex18 presses deep remorse for the women who patriotically 

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

20 United States policy, to endure unnecessary and discrimi21 natory actions, including the violation of their constitu22 tional right to due process of law, simply because they be23 came pregnant or became a parent while a member of the 

24 Armed Forces. 


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1 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY OF WOMEN INVOLUNTARILY SEPA2 RATED OR DISCHARGED DUE TO PREGNANCY 

3 OR PARENTHOOD. 

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

5 30, 2021, the Comptroller General of the United States 

6 shall conduct a study regarding women involuntarily sepa7 rated or discharged from the Armed Forces due to preg8 nancy or parenthood during the period of 1951 through 

9 1976. The study shall identify— 

10 (1) the number of such women, disaggregated 

11 by— 

12 (A) Armed Force; 

13 (B) grade; 

14 (C) race; and 

15 (D) ethnicity; 

16 (2) the characters of such discharges or separa17 tions; 

18 (3) discrepancies in uniformity of such dis19 charges or separations; 

20 (4) how such discharges or separations affected 

21 access of such women to health care and benefits 

22 through the Department of Veterans Affairs; and 

23 (5) recommendations for improving access of 

24 such women to resources through the Department of 

25 Veterans Affairs. 


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1 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after com2 pleting the study under subsection (a), the Comptroller 

3 General shall submit to Congress a report containing the 

4 results of that study. 

Æ 


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