Dianne Feinstein: “I support Senator Murray's amendment to repeal the provision of current law that prohibits a woman in the armed services…”

“I support Senator Murray's amendment to repeal the provision of current law that prohibits a woman in the armed services from using her own funds to pay for an abortion in an overseas U.S. military facility. I support this amendment for several reasons. First, the Supreme Court has clearly established a woman's right to choose. That right is not suspended simply because a woman serves in the U.S. military or is married to a U.S. servicemember. Second, women based in the United States and using a U.S.-based military facility are not prohibited from using their own funds to pay for an abortion. Having a prohibition on the use of U.S. military facilities overseas creates a double standard, and an undue hardship on women servicemembers stationed overseas. Third, private facilities may not be readily available in other countries. For example, abortion is illegal in the Philippines. A woman stationed in that country or the spouse of a servicemember would need to fly to the U.S. or to another country--at her own expense--to obtain an abortion. We don't pay our servicemembers enough to assume they can simply jet off to Switzerland for medical treatment. Fourth, if women do not have access to military facilities or to private facilities in the country they are stationed, they could endanger their own health by the delay involved in getting to a facility or by being forced to seek an abortion by someone other than a licensed physician.”