This week we let you know about an exciting new ad campaign created by a coalition of retired military leaders and veterans – Stand With Servicewomen. The ads target the unfair ban on servicewomen using their insurance to pay for abortion services if they become pregnant as the result of rape.
The ACLU, in conjunction with a group of retired military leaders and veterans, launched a new ad campaign today targeting the Department of Defense’s ban on servicewomen using their insurance to pay for abortion services if they become pregnant as the result of rape or incest. The ads were released as part of a coalition effort, Stand With Servicewomen, designed to raise awareness of, and ultimately end, this unfair policy.
Last week, during its markup of the National Defense Authorization (NDAA) bill, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted to include a much-needed and overdue amendment to help servicewomen when they need it most. The amendment, offered by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), would reverse the current ban on abortion coverage for servicewomen who are the victims of rape or incest.
When the news broke a group of senior military officers, retired medical personnel and veterans called Stand With Servicewomen, immediately registered their support releasing video featuring several retired military leaders.
This Memorial Day, we can show the women serving in the military how grateful we are for their brave service by giving them the same opportunities to serve, and the same recognition of their service, as men. This month, the Army and the Marine Corps began to implement changes to the so-called combat exclusion rule, an outdated policy that bars women from being assigned to ground combat units, irrespective of their talents and abilities. Under modifications to the combat exclusion rule announced by the Department of Defense (DoD) earlier this year, women will now be permitted to serve in certain previously male-only positions at the battalion level and in positions that are located with, and support, combat units.
By Tiseme Zegeye, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Elayne Weiss, Washington Legislative Office at 9:53am
The combat exclusion rule ignores the reality of modern warfare. Women are already serving in combat, and at present, 139 women have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Less than three months after the Pentagon announced that it was loosening the rules that bar women from being assigned to ground combat units, the Marine Corps followed suit, taking important steps to open up previously restricted opportunities to women. Last week, the Marines announced that women volunteers would be allowed to attend the Infantry Officers Course in Quantico, Va., for the first time, and that enlisted Marine women would also soon gain access to infantry training. This week, Marine Corps General James F. Amos sent a message to all Marines explaining that the Corps would begin assigning women to a number of positions from which they had previously been restricted, including in artillery, tank, assault amphibian, and other staffs, for purposes of "research" on integrating women into the force. He also announced that the Marines will conduct quantitative research on how men and women Marines perform in tests such as marching with a heavy load and lifting a heavy machine gun.
This week, Wednesday is a big day for immigrants' rights advocates: The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Arizona v. United States, the Justice Department's challenge to S.B. 1070, Arizona's racial profiling law. The ACLU will be participating in two briefings today and tomorrow, and will be attending the argument.
Last week, Pentagon officials got a few steps closer to recognizing what those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have known for years: servicewomen fight on the battlefield alongside their male counterparts, despite a longstanding rule barring them from being assigned to units that engage in direct ground combat. The Defense Department didn't altogether scrap the rules officially banning women from being assigned to such units, but it did loosen them. Under the new rules, women will be allowed to serve in some jobs — though not infantry, armor, or special operations forces — at the battalion level — that is, closer to combat than had previously been permitted. To the Pentagon's credit, it scrapped the infamous ban on women serving in units that are physically "co-located" with ground combat units, recognizing that the policy has become "irrelevant" on the modern battlefield. Now, 14,000 new jobs and assignment opportunities are open to servicewomen, though 238,000 positions still remain closed across all the armed services.
Last week, the Pentagon announced a change in policy that eased the ban on women serving in combat. This is a heartening step towards ending gender discrimination in the military and giving women who bravely serve our country the credit they have earned.
The announcement, though, was problematic for Fox News contributor Liz Trotta. She explained that women's "wanting to be warriors and victims at the same time" is an issue, citing that sexual assaults in the military have increased by 64 percent since 2006.
