NARAL thanks House Democrats for voting to lift ban on privately funded abortion care for military women

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2016

Tonight, NARAL Pro-Choice America thanks Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee who voted for an amendment to the FY17 National Defense Authorization Bill that would have lifted the ban on privately funded abortion services for women in the military. This is the first time the House has voted on this ban since 2006.

Prohibiting women from using their own funds to obtain abortion services at military facilities is not only discriminatory but endangers their health and denies women a constitutionally protected right. Women stationed overseas depend on their base hospitals for medical care, and are often situated in areas where local facilities are inadequate, unsafe, or unavailable. While NARAL supports public funding for abortion care, this amendment does not touch public funding for abortion. It simply allows military women to exercise their constitutional right to choose abortion and use their own money to pay for abortion care at a military facility.

Said Sasha Bruce, NARAL Senior Vice President for Campaigns and Strategies: “These women fight for our freedoms as their job yet our country repays them with limited freedoms in their own health care choices. That’s criminal. What House Democrats did tonight was take the right stand for our military women and we thank them for it.”

To read more about the importance of lifting the ban on privately funded abortion services for women in the military, view NARAL’s fact sheet here.

NARAL thanks the following members for supporting this commonsense amendment:

Adam Smith, Washington, Ranking Member

Loretta Sanchez, California

Bob Brady, Pennsylvania

Susan A. Davis, California

Rick Larsen, Washington

Jim Cooper, Tennessee

Joe Courtney, Connecticut

David Loebsack, Iowa

Niki Tsongas, Massachusetts

John Garamendi, California

Hank Johnson, Georgia

Jackie Speier, California

André Carson, Indiana

Derek Kilmer, Washington

Joaquín Castro, Texas

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois

Scott Peters, California

Marc Veasey, Texas

Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii

Tim Walz, Minnesota

Beto O’Rourke, Texas

Donald Norcross, New Jersey

Ruben Gallego, Arizona

Mark Takai, Hawaii

Gwen Graham, Florida

Brad Ashford, Nebraska

Seth Moulton, Massachusetts

Pete Aguilar, California

###