- As early as this evening, the Senate could begin debates on whether American women stationed in the military overseas should be allowed to use their own funds to pay for abortions in U.S. military hospitals.
The Center for Reproductive Rights is positioned to offer expert testimony from Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy, United States Army (retired), who is willing to discuss a young soldier’s traumatic abortion experience while under her command in Germany, where Kennedy served as a battalion commander from 1986 through 1988. Unable to afford a trip to the United States for an abortion, the female soldier sought medical care at a German hospital where she was not offered any pain medication and no one spoke English. "It was a searing experience for all of us—that in a very vulnerable time, this American who was serving her country could not count on the Army to give her the care she needed," says Kennedy.
U.S. law bans almost all abortion services at U.S. military hospitals unless the woman’s life is endangered by the pregnancy or her state is a result of rape or incest. A servicewoman who does not come within the narrow "life, rape or incest," exception, cannot obtain services with her own private funds—even if her health is jeopardized by her pregnancy,
"Ironically, this regulation, which is not imposed on American civilians, violates the constitutional rights of our armed forces personnel during the crucial time they are sacrificing themselves to serve our country," says Julia Ernst, Legislative Counsel for the Center for Reproductive Rights.
In 1993, President Clinton lifted the restriction prohibiting abortions at overseas military hospitals with private funds by Executive Order. In 1996, however, Congressional extremists once again imposed the policy. In 2000, an effort to repeal the ban was narrowly defeated by a margin of 49-50.
Read the full text of a letter from Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy to the Senate.
