The Committee also voted to reinstate the ban on privately-funded abortions at overseas military facilities, repealed just last week in Subcommittee. The exception for victims of rape and incest is a hollow victory as the language added by anti-choice lawmakers will only serve to further burden servicewomen already struggling as victims of terrible crimes. These women have sworn to protect this country with their very lives. Rape is by definition a forcible act.
Incest is by definition an egregious assault.
The women victimized by these crimes should not have to endure reporting requirements and inane regulations just to obtain needed medical services. The actions of the anti-choice members of the House Armed Services Committee endanger the health and lives of U.S. servicewomen. But with the high instance of domestic violence in the military, such reporting requirements are impractical. They would require a woman stationed overseas to report the crime to a military law enforcement agency, placing her at further risk should her husband find out. Moreover, as it stands now, the ban on privately-funded abortions at overseas military facilities would force servicewomen to seek abortion services in local and often substandard medical facilities or travel the long distance back to the U.S. for treatment.