Nancy L. Johnson: “This amendment does not fund abortions with tax dollars. Let us get that very clear. Tax dollars under current law may…”

“This amendment does not fund abortions with tax dollars. Let us get that very clear. Tax dollars under current law may not pay for abortions. Tax dollars under this amendment will not pay for abortions. This amendment merely assures that soldiers, sailors, Marines do not become second class citizens when they don the uniform of our great Nation to defend freedom. This amendment merely assures that our servicemen and servicewomen and their spouses do not have less freedom than the people they defend. All this amendment guarantees is that a servicewoman or a serviceman's wife has the same right any other American woman has to terminate a pregnancy in, for example, the first trimester, in a safe, clean health care facility. Any serviceman's wife or servicewoman who would want to would have to pay for the procedure themselves. This does not provide tax dollars for the procedure. In fact, this amendment only does three things: It provides equal rights to our military servicemen and servicewomen to legal medical care. It provides equal protection against care in substandard hospitals by substandard physicians. And thirdly, it provides equal protection under the law.”