The Department of Defense is prohibited by federal statute from providing coverage for abortion care except when a pregnant woman’s life is endangered. The ban provides no exception for cases of rape and incest ¹. This ban is particularly galling because servicewomen are especially vulnerable to sexual assault ¹. Despite the Department of Defense’s efforts, sexual assault in the military persists. Reporting an assault is difficult enough and should a woman become pregnant as a result of rape, she should be able to obtain the same care available to civilian women who rely on the government for their health care needs ¹. Further, military women confront an additional barrier to abortion access when serving overseas. In addition to banning military health insurance from covering abortion care, federal law prohibits military treatment facilities from providing abortion services to women even when patients pre-pay the entire cost of the procedure with their own private funds. This second ban, which has a narrow exception for life endangerment, rape, and incest, imposes grave health risks and leaves servicewomen and their families far worse off than civilian women ¹.

The ACLU has introduced the Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health (MARCH) for Military Women Act, which would provide coverage (funding) for abortion in cases of rape and incest for servicewomen and dependents who rely on the military health system for their healthcare and lift the current ban on using private funds to pay for abortion on military hospitals ¹. The bill aims to provide our military women, who serve and sacrifice, with the same access to abortion care that civilian women receive ¹.

¹: source

LIFT THE ABORTION BANS: U.S. SERVICEWOMEN DESERVE EQUAL TREATMENT, FAIRNESS AND COMPASSION – ACLU