As thousands of service members are being called to active military duty, women’s access to abortions in military facilities is being limited once again. On September 25, the US House of Representatives voted down an amendment to the 2002 Department of Defense Authorization Bill that would permit women to use their own funds to obtain an abortion at overseas military hospitals. Women are effectively required to go off base for these services. This comes at a time when heightened numbers of military personnel are being transferred to nations surrounding Afghanistan, almost all of which do not permit legal abortion. Military women who become pregnant and wish to have an abortion will have to return to the U.S. to complete the procedure, thus risking their careers in military service, or resort to illegal abortions in the countries where they are stationed.
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