“The Invisible War”, a film delving into the injustices faced by women in the military specifically related to sexual assault, has taken the country by storm both politically and socially. The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, thoughtfully connects U.S. government compiled statistics and the real stories of women and men who were the victims of sexual assault while serving in the military. The film aims to address many issues which include: corruption within the military justice system, impunity for high-ranking military officials, outdated legislation for prosecuting rape in the military “court martial” system, failure of “rape prevention” campaigns implemented in the military, and many others. The film is well put together and evokes quite a few negative emotions towards our government for allowing such an obvious problem to go unsolved, but likely more disturbing, practically unaddressed.

During the film you meet many women and a man who have been affected by this “invisible war,” but there is one specifically who stands out who was assaulted by her superior and later found out she was pregnant and had contracted an STD from her attacker. This brief interview clip is the only time the audience hears from this woman, but the impact is still strong. Her story evokes the questions, what happens to the women who survive their attacks but are burdened with the result of becoming pregnant? What does the US government do for these women, if anything at all?

Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are just as grim as one would expect, if not worse. The Department of Defense began its strict abortion policies in 1979 into the 1980s with the adoption of a “life-of –the-mother-only” limit for using government budget to fund abortions. This barred any government funding to be used for abortions unless there was immediate danger to the mother’s life.  This legislation backed by government was adopted as a provision after Roe v. Wade, in order to prevent taxpayers’ money from being used to fund abortions. This provision was enacted in the form of the Hyde Amendment, which circumvents the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortions therefore forbidding military health insurance to cover the costs of abortions unless threatening to the life of the mother. This amendment often allows women who are raped and impregnated in the military to be forced to make a difficult decision between carrying the child to term, which can cause negative effects on their present and future military career, or pay for the abortion themselves. As unethical of a decision this seems to be, that is not the only problem since the complexity of access to abortion when looking at military health centers and accessing abortion in a time of a war, while overseas, or when forbidden by domestic law only further magnifies the issue.

This “choice” given to female soldiers who are suffering from unwanted pregnancies between paying for the abortion themselves and carrying the child to term is not only a question of funding. Funding is only one issue among many. Women are given the right in the military to pay for their own abortions to be done in military health centers if the abortion is sought after the woman was raped or a victim of incest. Assuming the woman has the funds to pay for her own abortion (if not, this creates an entirely different issue) the above clause may not seem unreasonable. That assumption is wrong. The problem is rape within the military, as demonstrated by “Invisible War,” has very low rates of conviction and even of being reported. For the women who are either ignored, charged with crimes themselves when reporting rape, or are scared to report their rape, where do they go if they need an abortion? There is no proof; therefore there are no safe facilities for access. What if these women are deployed in a country, such as Afghanistan, where access to abortion is illegal in domestic law? What if they are overseas in a country where medical care and facilities are not easily accessible or are simply not able to safely and sanitarily perform such a procedure? Essentially the United States military says, “Too bad.”

However, Congress is no longer ignoring the issue and is bringing it to the public’s attention through media attention and other means. Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen is not allowing this issue to be pushed under the rug like so many others which go unanswered in the US military, but is taking actions through an amendment which would give military women the right to be covered under their military insurance for abortions. The amendment brings military standards for abortions to the same level as the federal government officials’ standards.  It would allow military women to finally enjoy the same rights as the people and government they are fighting to protect. The amendment has already gained support from Democrats and Republicans alike in the Senate, becoming approved and attached to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act written and submitted by the Senate Armed Services Committee. Although there is known support for the amendment among Senators, an official Senate vote needs to be considered for the amendment to be included in the final cut of the Act. It is believed that Senate approval will be relatively manageable; however passing the Act with the amendment through the Republican controlled House of Representatives presents a different set of problems. The House has not included the amendment in their version of the Act, and it seems unlikely that they will unless there are some serious compromises being made. The Department of Defense has already expressed their support through the sending of a letter detailing as such, but Congress will need a lot more than letters to pass this Act.

This dilemma within our military only further proves there is something in our American way of thinking, our politics, and our governmental policies, which needs a serious paradigm shift in the way we view abortion. GJC’s “August 12^th Campaign” reinforces just that. The US government, which prohibits US humanitarian aid funds to be used for abortions, rather allow women and children to suffer through pregnancies often induced through rape, torture, and incest which can result in death, injury, depression, etc. than to reevaluate this traditional American “war on abortion” we seem to be engaged in. This point of view is only holding America back from progressing towards becoming a true leader in human rights, both domestically and internationally. We have arrived at the time in America when religion needs to become disengaged from our policies and instead the equality of our servicewomen, our dedication to international human rights treaties and law, and the well being of Americans in general needs to take precedence over doing things just for the sake of saying, “This was how it was done in the past.”

Post by: Jocelyn Garibay