[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 42 (Thursday, March 21, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E360]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INTRODUCING THE MARCH FOR MILITARY WOMEN ACT

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                     HON. LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 21, 2013

  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Military Access 
to Reproductive Care and Health, MARCH, for Military Women Act, 
legislation that will help our servicewomen gain the same access to 
reproductive health services as all other American women. It is deeply 
unfair that women who put their lives on the line for this country are 
denied the rights of the Constitution that they honorably defend.
  Recent changes in policy have brought the treatment of military women 
more in line with the rest of women in America by allowing insurance 
coverage of abortion in the case of rape or incest. However, 
servicewomen are still not permitted to pay privately--using their own 
personal funds--for an abortion under any other circumstances. This 
policy is discriminatory, denying women in the military a 
Constitutionally protected right. Furthermore, it endangers the health 
of our servicewomen, who depend on their base hospitals for medical 
care, especially in countries where local facilities are inadequate or 
unavailable. More than 200,000 women (active service members, spouses, 
and dependents of military personnel) live on military bases overseas 
and rely on military hospitals for their health care.
  Prohibiting access to abortions on military bases means that 
servicewomen may be forced to rely on unsafe local facilities. Failing 
that, a servicewoman would need to request permission from her 
supervisor to leave her combat mission and return to the United States. 
This impairs the readiness of our forces who are quite literally on the 
front lines, and it should not be allowed to continue. Our servicewomen 
deserve the right to determine their own destiny, without risking their 
health unnecessarily.
  I want to be clear that if this bill became law, no taxpayer dollars 
would be spent for abortion care at overseas military facilities, and 
the military's current ``conscience clauses'' would remain intact so 
that no doctor would be forced to provide abortion care against their 
will. Passage of this bill would simply mean that our military women 
have the same rights as all other American women when it comes to 
reproductive health services. It is an issue of equality and fairness.
  Our servicewomen deserve to be treated as full equals, and to have 
the same access to safe reproductive health care as any other American 
woman. I urge my colleagues to stand with me and support the MARCH for 
Military Women Act.

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