Evening star., 1945-03-08
Amended Bill
Drafting Nurses
Sent 10 Senate
Male Members of
Profession Made
Liable to Induction
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.


BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.
The nurse draft bill was sent t.
the Senate today after passing tn
House, BAT to AZ, late yesterday.
The first measure drafting womel
ever to be considered in eithe
branch of Congress, the bill, as ap
proved by the House, also woult
make qualified male nurses liabl
to induction.
The bill emerged from the Hous,
with numerous amendments, but re-
tanned the principal features of tn,
measure as it came from the Mill
tary Affairs Committee and was in
troduced originally by Chairman
May. Qualified nurses over 10 ant
under As would be subject to draft
The bill, under an approved
amendment by Representative Xii.
day, Democrat, of Texas require.
all nurses under As, whether mar
ried or single, to register with their
draft boards. Nurses married prior
to March Is, 1945. would not be
subject to induction.
Last Minute Efforts.
Two last-minute efforts were made
in the House to require the armed
forces to make further trial OF
voluntary recruiting before drafting
nurses. The first attempt, on an
amendment by Representative Fen
ton, Republican, of Pennsylvania
suspending operation Of the act for
80 days and as long after that as
the services would be able to fill
quotas, failed by vote of 139 to
1873.
Another move along the same line
by Representative McGregor, Re-
publican, of Ohio, was pressed as
the bill was about to reach a final
vote. This was lost on what was
largely a party split by ISL to III
Mr.. McGregor's amendment, like Mr.
Fentons, would have required the
Secretaries of War and Navy to
conduct for 80 days an intensive
campaign to recruit volunteers for
their nurses corps.
A prolonged debate over whether
married nurses should be inducted
ended in adoption of mild compro-
mise amendment by Representative
I'homason of Texas, ranking Demo-
crat on the Military Affairs Com
nittee, exempting from the nurse
draft married women whose mar
riage occurred before March Is,
1945, and women with dependent
children or children under 18 years
of age"
Married Women Exempt.
This had the effect of defeating
an earlier amendment by Represent
ative Bolton, Republican, of Ohio,
which would have made all married
nurses liable to the draft, with their
deferment for reasons of dependen-
cy left to draft boards AS the bill
came before the House, it made
married women exempt.
The Thomason amendment
brought nurses married after the
middle of this month under the
draft in difference to the contention
of members that some nurses would
marry to avoid being called.
Representative Fulton, Republi-
can, of Pennsylvania, who returned
recently from service in the Navy,
got House approval of new Sec
ton providing that nurses in the
land or naval forces shall, to the
extent compatible with military re-
quirements, be assigned in accord
ance with their requests for assign
ment." The section adds that no
nurse shall be denied any assign
ment by reason of the fact that she
would be in the same theater of
operations as her spouse"
Mr.. Fulton said the services had
made it a practice to keep husband
and wife apart, and, where both
were in the service, they could not
be assigned to the same theater.
Male Nurses Included.
The amendment placing qualified
male nurses in the same category
with women nurses, approved by a
voice vote, was offered by Repre-
sentative johnson, Republican, of
California. He contended the bill
was grossly unfair to male nurses,
of whom there were more than 5000
registered with State examining
boards. They had the same training
as women, he pointed out, and per-.
hapS were better fitted for some
military duties.
Chairman May opposed the
amendment, contending there were
$500 male nurses already in the
service, most of them assigned as
medical technicians or aides. BY in
cluding them in the bill, the serv-
ices would be forced to commission
those later drafted, he said, and
this would be unfair to enlisted
men already doing similar work.
The bill, as amended on the floor,
required the Army and Navy to
draft only nurses acceptable as COM
missioned officers and to induct none
except as officers. Mr.. May per-
suaded the House to soften this pro-
vision by providing that the armed
services must tender" commissions
to all nurse selectees.
He contended no one legally could
be forced to accept q commission.
Other members expressed fear that
the whole legislation might be illegal
if commissions were made manda-
tory.
Refusal Held Unlikely.
Leaders Of the Military Affairs
Committee, asked on the floor what
would happen If a drafted nurse
refused commission, said she
then could be inducted anyway and
assigned nursing duty, though they
added that such a contingency was
most unlikely.
The House stripped from the
original bill a provision requiring
selective service boards to draft
graduates of the Cadet Nurse Corps
ahead of other nurses. AS the bill
now stands all graduate r,,rcoc