Group pushes to lift ban on abortion care for women in the military
The Senate attached an amendment Thursday to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that seeks to lift the ban on abortion insurance coverage for women in the military who are victims of rape, according to RH Reality Check.
Known as the Shaheen Amendment, named for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) who first introduced the amendment in November 2011, seeks to overturn the longstanding ban, which does not exist for other federal employees. Some 400,000 women serve in the military.
The activist group Stand with Servicewomen has formed to support the amendment and created a thoughtful and tear-jerking video that lays out the case for overturning the ban. The group is also anonymously collecting stories of sexual assault.
“The policy makes no sense on any level,” retired Capt. Joellen Oslund of the Navy Reserve said in the video. “And it’s a huge blow to morale. You take a woman who has suffered what is probably the most horrific event in her life, and then tell her she’s on her own. She has to find a way to make it happen and she has to pay for it herself.”
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