[1]VoteVets

What we feared has come to pass.

This morning’s official Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade will be disastrous for people serving in the military.

Here is the truth:

First, more than half of all states with abortion bans on the books — states like Texas, Georgia and Florida — are home to tens of thousands of troops and military families on some of the nation’s largest military bases.

Now consider that most active duty troops and military families don’t get to choose where they are stationed — meaning that comprehensive abortion services are now inaccessible to them with this ruling.

Many of the state abortion bans don’t make an exception for rape or incest, and restrict the kinds of emergency procedures that are necessary to save the life of the mother in a worst-case scenario.

An existing federal rule known as the Hyde Amendment already makes it illegal for abortions to be performed at military medical facilities unless in the case of sexual assault or the mother’s life is in danger. But even then, not all bases have access to these emergency services. And Tricare, the health insurance provided to troops and military families, doesn’t cover the cost of abortions at private clinics, either.

So, now you have tens of thousands of troops and military families, many of whom are not paid a ton of money, who will have to cover the cost of abortion on their own, not to mention cover the cost of travel out of state, a stay at a hotel and any additional recovery costs.

To top it off, active duty troops also have to get permission from their chain of command to leave in order to obtain this extremely private medical procedure.

The Supreme Court decision will force our servicemembers and their family members to carry unwanted or unsafe pregnancies to term.

Servicemembers cannot deploy while pregnant, which harms military readiness. A servicemember who becomes pregnant against their will and cannot obtain a safe, legal abortion, will not be unable to deploy — taking them out of the fight.

So what is someone in the military with an unwanted pregnancy to do?

The point is, this should be a private choice made by a person and their doctor. Not their Commanding Officer, the Supreme Court, or anyone else.

This makes it critical that Congress act. Over the past few weeks, we have been speaking with a number of veterans who have faced this choice personally.

We hope you’ll help us make sure their voices are heard as Congress debates this issue again.

Can you please make a contribution — of whatever you can afford — to help us elevate the voices of veterans who will be disproportionately impacted by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade?

CONTRIBUTE: [link removed]

Thank you,

The team at VoteVets

CONTRIBUTE: [link removed]
 


You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]