Shaheen Amendment To Restore Abortion Coverage For Military Rape Victims Bypassed In Senate

Despite pervasive sexual assault in the U.S. military, women who become pregnant as a result of rape while serving in the military are denied abortion coverage under their health plans -- a policy that will remain in place, the Senate decided on Wednesday.

Under current policy, pregnant women in the military are only able to use their insurance plans to pay for abortions if their lives are at risk. Civilians who work for the government or rely on Medicaid, by contrast, can use their insurance to pay for abortions in cases of rape and incest as well. Even rape survivors in federal prisons receive government-funded abortion coverage.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would lift the ban on military insurance coverage for abortions in cases of rape and incest, providing military women with reproductive health coverage that is equal in scope to that of civilians. But Senate leadership decided against allowing a vote on the amendment Wednesday, ruling it non-germane. A spokesman for Shaheen said he did not know why the Parliamentarian had made that decision.

"I'm very disappointed that we will not have a chance this week to debate this critical issue," Shaheen told HuffPost, "but we'll keep fighting for it as long as we have to."

Earlier this year, the House Rules Committee blocked a similar Democrat-sponsored amendment from reaching a vote. Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) said it is unclear exactly why the committee, led by Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), made that decision.

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

Throughout most of the 1970s, military women could use their insurance plans to cover abortion without restrictions. In 1981, Congress banned military abortion coverage in all cases except when a pregnancy endangered the life of the mother, and the measure was codified into permanent law in 1984.

But rape -- and rapes resulting in pregnancy -- is still a major problem in the U.S. military. In Fiscal Year 2010 alone, more than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported in the military, over a quarter of which were rapes, according to the Department of Defense. (A request for data for FY 2011 was not immediately fulfilled.) And the DOD estimates that about 86 percent of military rapes go unreported.

A woman's risk of being sexually assaulted doubles when she joins the military, the American Civil Liberties Union calculated in a 2011 fact sheet.

"This policy is fundamentally unfair to the more than 200,000 women serving in our military," Shaheen said on Wednesday. "They are fighting to protect our rights, and they should have the same rights to reproductive health care as our civilian employees."

Comments

[Marlowe53]

07:08 PM on 01/23/2013

This article does not make it clear why this amendment has not been brought up for a vote in the Senate. If it was due to a filibuster threat by the GOP, it seems to be an excellent time for Reid to institute his filibuster reforms. If the fault lies with Reid, it's further evidence that Democrats need to stop giving money to anti-abortion candidates.

[SmileAndActNice]

09:09 PM on 12/01/2011

I don't know what is more disgusting, that they want to deny medical care to female soldiers who have been raped, or that everyone is just taking for granted that the rapist was one of ours.

[squirrely girl]

04:56 PM on 12/02/2011

Statistically speaking the rapist WAS one of ours.

[REMEMBER2050]

01:37 PM on 12/01/2011

In terms of all Republican legislation against women, you may also want to recall they've been screaming for language changes so that when women are raped, their complaints may not call them "victims" but only "plaintiffs." So just when you've lowered the bar so low it's underground, they STILL have the capacity to surprise!!

Who would guess old white right-wing males would love fetuses so selflessly? That's weird! We know the GOP regards us LIVE citizens as the country's most expendable commodity. But we also know GOPers love strategy. There's always a plot within a plot; feint within feint. MAYBE continual back-door attempts to gut Roe v. Wade are something else entirely:

1. There are more women than men in America, and women trend somewhat Democrat. Is this punishment? Do they think we won't vote if we have enough screaming kids?

2. Perhaps they're disturbed we're lagging so far behind China's population. Or not procreating enough to compete with 1.6 billion Muslims. By golly! Two soldiers make good breeding stock!

3. MAYBE this is their bottom line to "GROW THE ECONOMY." The more mewling serfs in the unemployed labor pool, the more desperate we'll be--working for peanuts!! NO minimum wage, NO benefits. And per Newt, let's grab them around age ten--maybe for $.25/hour!!!

Now we're talkin'! Any woman who votes Republican might as well save time and whack herself with a hammer.

[Joel Mendez]

03:08 PM on 12/01/2011

you'd think this would eventually trickle into the soft heads of Stepford Wives across the country, but it doesn't. i wish it did.
#2288 !

[REMEMBER2050]

03:16 PM on 12/01/2011

God, this thing with the military practically makes me physically ill.

Seems to me that the country's horrible economic circumstances are forcing some women into the military. And since the GOP ONLY passes budget cuts that create more unemployment, they are successfully keeping the economy tanked--hardly an accident as that's the only way they have a bat's chance in hell to win 2012.

So this very party that has a strong hand in forcing women into the military in the first place is conveniently ALSO the party that betrays them while serving.

My thinking is they're hardly using "The Handmaid's Tale" as a warning. They're using it as their roadmap.

[REMEMBER2050]

12:52 PM on 12/01/2011

Want you write your Democratic Senators? Here's where to find them and a letter:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/

I am enraged your Parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, found the Shaheen Amendment "non-germane." I am referring to Shaheen's noble fix to a despicable injustice--that when women in the military are raped and impregnated, their insurance won't cover abortions.

More than 200,000 women serve and are subjected to an outrageous number of rapes. Currently, not only do we not protect them from initial violence, but we REFUSE to help them later. That is categorically unacceptable.

Your Republican-appointee Parliamentarian obviously has a pro-fetus bias and works actively to keep women relegated to third-class citizenship. Recollect Frumin found attaching the Coburn Rider to the Credit Card Act "germane." How did that work ? In case we're in a national park using our VISA at an ATM built into a ponderosa and find ourselves attacked by Bambi, we can shoot him because TFG we now can carry loaded semis?

Keeping a Republican appointee was STUPID. Flip it around: if Republicans had the majority, they would have been idiotic enough to keep a Democrat?

Get rid of Frumin immediately!!!! Then get the damn Shaheen Amendment PASSED. The current policy is a vile slap in the face to every woman unfortunate enough to have chosen to serve her country.

[Marlowe53]

08:24 PM on 01/23/2013

The link doesn't work.

I couldn't agree more with everything you wrote. It does no good to defeat the Mourdocks and the Akins if the Democrats are only pretending to support women in order to get our votes.

Btw, the "Democrat" who actually defeated Mourdock opposes reproductive justice for women except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother. We need to weed these people out at the local level. Women deserve better representation from Democrats who would be defeated if not for women's votes.

[FredVenice]

12:29 PM on 12/01/2011

we as a country should be thankful for the guidance of the evangelical, born again folks

[REMEMBER2050]

12:59 PM on 12/01/2011

If our military women fall on their knees and figure out a way to thank them, they may be able to avoid getting pregnant.

[TheLibraryOfCodex]

01:12 PM on 12/01/2011

Indeed. Their support of rape is truly inspiring.

[Stephen Davies]

09:41 AM on 12/01/2011

This is typical American Hypocracy ,
These are the people whe defend your country and in return you refuse to defend them !
Shame on you,

[AquarianInExile]

10:30 AM on 12/01/2011

Stephen,

F and F

Not only that - but WHY are these rapes not mentioned on a continuous basis and WHY are we NOT hearing about prosecutions of rapists?



Roe v. Wade, January 22, 1973


IT IS LEGAL, PEOPLE, GET OVER IT~


Eykis

[Marlowe53]

08:29 PM on 01/23/2013

Good point. Why hasn't Obama spoken out on this issue? Leon Panetta did get a clue when he saw the recent documentary on the subject but even he did not take the responsibility for pursuing criminal charges against the rapists out of the chains of command and into the hands of civilians.

[Meg70]

09:18 AM on 12/01/2011

The senate parliamentarian decides what legislation comes before the senate. The current one is Alan Frumin who was hired (not elected by the people) by the Republicans when they held control in the senate. The Democrats should have fired him but did not and now they have to deal with his power. It is wrong, in my opinion, that one person should have this much power but this is how it works I guess.

[Donna May EngelmanEvans]

08:28 AM on 12/01/2011

So Wrong

[Lawyer13]

06:46 AM on 12/01/2011

A view from an ex military service English man : This is disgraceful for the Senate to ignore this very important subject, I am great friends with Dr. Rita Spilken of Springfield MO who runs a very good organisation for veterans on this and other problems they may have go and look at www.ourhousefoundation.org

[manikajo]

06:22 AM on 12/01/2011

This is absurd. What does abortion coverage have to do with the defense of the country? Why should taxpayers pay for anybody's abortion? If you get pregnant because of your free will, you pay for it. If you are raped, the rapist pays. It''s that simple. This country's finances are in the toilet and we feel the need to pay for abortions for everybody that doesn't want to accept personal responsibility. I am a woman and feel for women in this situation but abortion is murder and I don't want my money paying for it.

[Janet Logan]

07:21 AM on 12/01/2011

You leave me speechless - and you're a woman. Are you sure?

[Marlowe53]

08:34 PM on 01/23/2013

It's a woman? No, that cannot be.

[chrissy48]

08:14 AM on 12/01/2011

I hope you aren't breeding ! I

[Joel Mendez]

03:38 PM on 12/01/2011

of course she is. contraception is the work of the devil. god clearly intended all women to have more children than they could possibly care for. oh, and children who are both 'son' and 'brother', cuz it's humane to force a 13 yr old girl to allow her rapist dad to visit her son/brother, didn't ya know? it's very xtian, and very humane. cuz abortion is murder. but rape? that's god's will.

[TheLibraryOfCodex]

05:55 AM on 12/01/2011

The conservative assault on women continues.


Ladies, vote for these people at your own peril.

If you do, you are a disgrace to your gender.

[Ginger23]

01:06 PM on 12/01/2011

Look at the post above yours. Case in point.

[Kiranitisme]

05:03 AM on 12/01/2011

The country needs constant supply of babies growing in to teens and young adults. How else the thousands of college sports coaches, trainers, counselors and priests live.

[Americatheteenager]

06:20 AM on 12/01/2011

It has to be the reason... It can't be anything else considering how much over populated this country is...

[Kiranitisme]

05:02 AM on 12/01/2011

Last month it was reported that it costs an average of $225,000 to raise a child from birth to coming out of college.

[manikajo]

06:52 AM on 12/01/2011

What are you saying? I know what causes children and they don't show up unless you put in an order.

[Ms NYC]

10:04 AM on 12/01/2011

who puts in an order to be raped?

[ScribeLynn]

02:14 PM on 12/01/2011

Oh!! Really?? Just to let you know, birth control, of any kind & in any combination, it NOT ALWAYS effective! You THINK w aoman really puts in an order (at the drive-up, maybe?) to have a rapist's child??!! You may be a woman, but I would bet my bottom dollar you were never raped, let alone having ever served your country. I have -- BOTH! And you know what?? My daughter did/was as well -- TWENTY years later! Ugh!

[Kiranitisme]

05:01 AM on 12/01/2011

There are two solutions. 1. Women should stop getting in to the military. 2. If this happens to you just cross the border, go to Canada and get it done. That is the price for going in to the military.

[Nick SketchCat Wilson]

06:53 AM on 12/01/2011

I could think of a dozen more solutions.

[Janet Logan]

07:22 AM on 12/01/2011

There should be no price for being in the military other than suffering an injury at the hands of an enemy - are you implying that all servicewomen are fair game or that all servicemen are their enemy?

[1dabut1]

08:40 AM on 12/01/2011

This s--t is just going right over their puny heads.

[Kiranitisme]

10:21 PM on 12/09/2011

You did not get the meaning of my comment! If you think that there is a chance that you will be raped a fellow soldier and the government will not cover for the abortion, then find another career!

[PerfumeisToxic]

04:47 AM on 12/01/2011

What more evidence do we need that hatred of women is a core of right wing policy. A core of organized religion. A core of homophobia. A core of "family values"

I think that the real issue is that some people allow themselves, through their weakness, to be controlled and restricted. To be made to feel unimportant. To obey and give up their individuality and freedom. They the need someone else to LOOK DOWN ON in order to reclaim some pride and personal power. And women, gay people, etc etc fulfill that role as the people lower on the pecking order.

Because NO ONE wants to be at the very bottom of the barrel.

[AquarianInExile]

10:34 AM on 12/01/2011

Pefume,

F and F

Excellent Post. Thank you for TRUTH.


Eykis