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The Senate Armed Services Committee approved an amendment that would repeal a ban on abortions for servicewomen even when those women paid with their own money. The amendment was introduced by Sen. Roland Burris and is now attached to the National Defense Authorization Act.
The previous rule, which had been reversed by President Clinton with an executive order in 1993 but then reinstated by Congress two years later, according to the ACLU, required military women to go off base for abortion care. As RH Reality Check notes:
In order for a woman fighting for our country, currently, to exercise her right to a safe and legal abortion, using her own money, she must first seek abortion care off of a United States military base (and, of course, if abortion is not legal in the country in which she is currently stationed, then what?), then she must request leave stating the reason for her leave and thirdly she must, of course, have the time and money to seek safe abortion care wherever she can find it.
Not only do women face enough barriers in the military, mothers face an extra hard time. So the military is giving women no way out.
-- Monica Potts
