Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Houlahan backs bill to lift limits on defense funds being used for abortion
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-6th Dist.), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), and Marilyn Strickland (DWA) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health for Military Servicemembers Act, or the MARCH for Military Servicemembers Act. The bicameral legislation would amend current U.S. Code to allow the Department of Defense to use available funds and facilities to perform abortions.
“I hear my Republican colleagues talk about how much they trust our service members with making decisions that protect the lives of their fellow service members and ultimately the lives of all Americans, yet many of those same colleagues believe that we cannot trust service members and their families to decide if, how, and when to have children. That is hypocrisy in its highest form,” Houlahan said in a statement. “Access to all forms of health care, including abortion, in the military is about freedom — our military families sacrifice so much for us, yet too many of my colleagues have decided that members of our armed forces should not have something as fundamental as bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom.
Discussing the importance of military readiness, Houlahan added: “Access to abortion is also a matter of military readiness. To be ready to fight tomorrow’s wars, we must recruit and retain the brightest minds and fiercest fighters this country has to offer. We don’t do that by telling servicewomen, spouses, and their families they can’t seek reproductive care — care that is widely available to their civilian counterparts. I’m introducing the MARCH Act alongside Congresswomen Jacobs, Strickland and Sen. Gillibrand because we trust in our military, and they should trust in us as well.”
The legislation is also endorsed by various organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; American Society for Reproductive Medicine; Center for Reproductive Rights; NARAL Pro-Choice America; National Partnership for Women and Family; National Women’s Law Center; Physicians for Reproductive Health; Planned Parenthood Federation of America; Service Women’s Action Network.