This Veterans Day, join us in honoring our female service members, both past and present, by signing our petition in support of the Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health Act (MARCH Act) and reading the story of one woman who was raped twice while in the military.
Published online in Ms. Magazine, this article shares one woman’s story – using the pseudonym Maureen – of the two times she was raped as an active service member. Told to us as part of a WCC oral history project, her story echoes those of so many service members who have been mistreated by military officials, and it justifies the ever louder cries from society to hold military perpetrators accountable and to bolster the DoD’s efforts to prevent these crimes.
Women – like Maureen – who are brutally raped in the U.S. military should not have to pay for their own abortions, but they do. Under current federal statute, the DoD permits coverage for abortion care to instances when the pregnant woman’s life is in danger. Abortion is not covered in cases of rape and incest. This restriction leaves women who are raped without resources and support, and those impregnated after being raped often resort to paying for their own abortions at unsanitary local service providers in hostile environments like Afghanistan and Iraq. This policy endangers both the physical and emotional health of female soldiers and should not be tolerated.
The Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health Act (MARCH) would provide coverage for women obtaining abortions in cases of rape and incest as well as allow these women to have privately-funded abortions at military treatment facilities. Take immediate action and protect our wives, daughters, and sisters serving in the U.S. military by supporting the MARCH for Military Women Act!
