Women in the Military

05/30/2012

ACLU Lens: Shaheen Amendment Draws Support from Retired Military

By Amanda Simon at 10:14am

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.

04/23/2012

On the Agenda

On the Agenda: Week of April 23 – 27, 2012

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 12:04pm

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.

11/29/2011

Women in the Military

Sen. Brown Should Seize Opportunity to Help Military Families

By Carol Rose, Executive Director, ACLU of Massachusetts at 10:28am

Sen. Scott Brown can make good on his promise to support our troops and veterans this week by supporting a proposal by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen to ensure that military servicewomen and their families have the same access to medical care as their civilian counterparts.

Sen. Shaheen’s amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (the Act that funds our troops) would allow the military health system to cover abortion care in cases of rape and incest — and only in those cases — just as the federal government does for all otherfederal employees, women enrolled in Medicaid, and women in federal prisons.

09/22/2011

Women in the Military

ACLU Lens: Chicago Sun-Times Weighs in on Indefensible Military Abortion Policy

By Amanda Simon at 12:43pm

The Chicago Sun-Times today has a terrific editorial on a thoroughly unfair military policy regarding servicewomen who are the victims of rape.

As it stands now, the military provides health insurance for members of the Armed Forces and their families but, by federal statute, the Department of Defense is barred from providing coverage for abortion care except where a pregnant woman's life is endangered. Despite the fact that other federal bans on abortion coverage provide an exception for cases of rape and incest, the military does not.

12/05/2012

Combat Exclusion

Why Servicewomen Are Suing To Challenge The Combat Exclusion Policy

By Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 9:40am

Last week, four servicewomen who served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the Service Women’s Action Network, sued the Secretary of Defense in federal court to challenge the combat exclusion policy. This policy prevents women from being assigned to most units that engage in direct ground combat.

American Civil Liberties Union