House Refuses To Vote On Abortion Coverage For Military Rape Victims

The House Committee on Rules blocked an amendment from going to vote on Wednesday that would have allowed military rape victims to access abortion care through their government-provided health plans.

Earlier this week, Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) and five other House Democrats submitted an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would reverse the current policy of denying abortion coverage to military women who are raped and become pregnant during their service. As the bill currently stands, servicewomen have to pay out of pocket for an expensive abortion procedure unless they can prove that their lives are in danger.

By contrast, other federal bans on abortion coverage, including those for Medicaid recipients, federal employees, and women in federal prisons, all include exceptions for victims of rape and incest. The ban on abortion coverage for military rape victims is actually more extreme than the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited federally-funded abortions for the past 30 years except in the cases of rape, incest and life endangerment.

"I think it's outrageous that we have young women who are serving our country and sacrificing their lives, and if they are raped and a pregnancy happens then they cannot utilize federal resources in order to have an abortion," Rep. Davis told HuffPost. "How can we tell a servicewoman that we would provide funding for her if she were sitting in a safe office in Washington, DC, but because she's fighting for our freedom in Afghanistan we tell her no? It's just not acceptable."

Instances of rape in the armed services are alarmingly common: The Pentagon reported more than 3,000 cases in FY 2009, and the Department of Defense estimates that reported incidents only account for a small fraction of the sexual assaults that actually occur.

Davis said it is unclear exactly why the House Committee on Rules, led by Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), decided that the amendment did not deserve to be debated or get a vote.

"I think they just don't want this to come up," she told HuffPost, "so they used a rule to block it."

Dreier's office did not return calls for comment.

NARAL Pro-Choice America said it was outraged by the House leadership's ongoing campaign to limit women's access to abortion care.

"Apparently Speaker John Boehner and his allies believe that women who put their lives on the line for their country should face more obstacles than women stateside when it comes to making personal, private decisions," said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL. "It is unconscionable."

Comments

[sas]

11:40 AM on 06/05/2011

The US military has brutally invaded over a dozen countries since the Second War War and its human rights record in virtually every one of the conflicts it has been mired in has been horrific. In this light, the epidemic of sexual violence in the military is not surprising. Neither is the apparent policy of apathy towards it

[bleucat democrat]

04:30 PM on 06/01/2011

let's not discriminate .... no viagra for retired or enlisted ... no treatment of std's ... no selling condoms in the px ... no birth control of any kind made avalable to military personel, because i don't want to fund the sexual activity of the military... let's be fair, now ...

[cafebeege]

03:08 AM on 06/04/2011

This is talking about RAPE not "sexual activity of the military" !!! Unless YOU include that as average sexual activity......

[PalinEffect]

01:12 AM on 05/27/2011

Who is in the photo?

[kwhitney333]

10:26 PM on 05/26/2011

I don't think the wing nuts in congress like women period...they do everything they can to take more and more rights away from us...I guess we are only good for breeding.....soon they will round us up and sell us to the highest bidder, spouting things like look at that one she's got good hips...this whole thing is horrible for these fine women who choose to serve our country are rapped and all we say is to bad.. The country has no shame in not taking care of them because they are women...Boehner is nothing more that a poster child for birth control....

[Alyssa D Mallozzi]

07:37 PM on 05/26/2011

This came to my mind ,because this article has been lodged under my skin like a splinter. If the cavemen want the military all to themselves, then let them have it. Those knuckle-draggers can go play with their guns and bombs, because the women in this country have better things to do than become live bait for men with uncontrolled libidos. Go ahead and play shoot 'em up in the wars out there, because it's such a manly thing to do, right?
I understand there ARE women who do want to serve this country, and my hat is off to them, but if they are going to be seen as nothing but prey by sexual predators, they should not have to put up with such base treatment. And if there are any men who are against this beastly abuse of women in the service, they NEED to speak out, regardless of the backlash.

[DTOM1776]

05:53 AM on 05/27/2011

Greetings Alyssa D Mallozzi

Your justifiable anger at the circumstance of rape is understandable. Your incorrectly attributable statements about people who serve in the United States military in general, and men in particular, betray as serious lack of information and understanding on your part.

You obviously have no idea who/what/where/how/why anything about our military or the brave women and men who sacrifice everything on a daily basis to serve. Certainly, there are some bad apples in the military. Those who devalue all other military members by sexually harassing and sexually assaulting each other. Those types of low life are dealt with harshly. The men that I have served with over the last 22 years do not view any women as "prey" or any other such generalization as you might invent.

[Empa]

07:10 PM on 05/27/2011

By the Pentagon's own report, about 30% of women in the military are sexually assaulted by their comrades, about 15 times more women than are of being injured by enemy combatants. If every case was "dealt with harshly," this would mean there would have been at least 70 000 prosecuted cases of sexual assault in the military over the last ten years or so. However, the number is closer to 20 000.

It might not be an issue in your unit, but there are clearly many units and officers who are not addressing the issue. Pretending that calling out this institutional failure is somehow a slight against "the United States military in general and men in particular" is an insult, not a compliment, to the armed forces. 30% is an unacceptable casaulty rate for any military group, and

[Empa]

07:10 PM on 05/27/2011

the sooner we deal with it seriously, the better.

[TannySG]

05:43 PM on 05/26/2011

This absolutely BREAKS my heart. I have met someone that has gone through the unbearable act of rape while in the military, and she struggles every single day with that and the events that followed it, including time in psychiatric care. If she would have gotten pregnant, I could not even IMAGINE the pain and suffering she would have felt. This goes for all women who have been raped, not just women in the military, however denying someone who is in the military help and a means of letting go of such a horrible experience is outrageous, cruel and despicable.

[DTOM1776]

07:18 AM on 05/27/2011

Greetings TannySG

What a shame the moderators will not allow me to ask a simple on-topic question of you and the lady that has been terrible hurt by rape.

[DTOM1776]

07:37 AM on 05/27/2011

Greetings TannySG

I have a question for you. If she had become pregnant as a result of rape, how would the destruction of the innocent unborn have made her situation any better? How can we justify the destruction of innocent human life simply because the father is a rapist?

[TannySG]

11:45 AM on 05/27/2011

Would you rather the child get put into the system? She would not have been mentally capable of taking care of the child, nor did she have the support system to help her. She would have had to give the child up. Also, think about the stress/depression she was feeling, and how that would affect the baby during her term. I think it is just irresponsible.

[turfkiller]

06:19 PM on 05/27/2011

The absolute pacifist is back. No abortions even to save the life of the mother.

[StopMakingSense2]

05:27 PM on 05/26/2011

Why is nobody going after all the money the government is giving to religious institutions these days? It goes against my principals and I don't want to pay for that! Not to mention it violates the constitution. Our democracy has become a sham.. Elections replaced with auctions..

[StopMakingSense2]

05:22 PM on 05/26/2011

Good to see republicans supporting the troops as usual. Empty BS, or worse!

[hculliton]

04:29 PM on 05/26/2011

It's nice to have proof that one can without a soul.

[KevinFitzz]

04:14 PM on 05/26/2011

House "leadership" has got to GOOOO! Ya hear that, Bohner?

[ultrawiz]

03:56 PM on 05/26/2011

Just when you think that Republicans can't possibly get their heads up their collective a** any further they pull something like this. How do these jerks sleep at night?

[taxpaying]

10:49 PM on 05/30/2011

They sleep at night because the media doesn't follow up with them and ask the tough questions. They count on the incompetency of the media which lets them pick and choose what to market to get reelected. Truth and honesty, from politicians and the media are no longer the American way.

[ChronicAnhedoniac]

02:56 PM on 05/26/2011

Ahhh, yes, another reminder that evil still exists. And, as always, religion is closely intertwined....

That 50 percent of Americans can be repeatedly convinced to vote for these hateful Republican fear-mongering old men has GOT to be the most alarming political fact of our time. Just dangle a middle class tax cut out there, and, as a Republican, you can preach almost any other nonsense you want, and you'll get the votes. And then this is what happens. Sad. And frightening.

[MH-California]

02:55 PM on 05/26/2011

My comments for majority of the articles I read seems to be the same all the time.

SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU!

BTW - Isn't the repub. religion small gov't, freedom of choice by individual, stay out of our private lives, blah blah blah blah ------ but I guess that is only for things they don't agree with. for other things they can tell us what to do with our bodies, our sexual preferences, who we marry, etc.

[StopMakingSense2]

05:18 PM on 05/26/2011

If that wasn't obvious...

[Sandra Lawson]

02:12 PM on 05/26/2011

I'm sorry for my language but this is B... S... I can't believe this. We have soldiers that happen to be women defending our country and this is how we treat them

[ocheeky1]

03:42 PM on 05/26/2011

Exactly what I was thinking as I read the article- BS!!
For women who've already suffered, to treat them like this is shameful...

[noot]

02:09 PM on 05/26/2011

So no wife or daughter who is a dependent of a military person is not covered in the case of rape, incest or risk of death to the mother if the baby is carried. If they want the woman who are covered by military insurance treated in this way, then all the females in their family should be treated the same way! How do you think that would fly at home?

We should all send the definition of misogyny of every member of Congress.

[StopMakingSense2]

05:20 PM on 05/26/2011

You assume they can read...