Nita Lowey: “I rise in support of the DeLauro amendment, which strikes language that bars military women and dependents overseas from…”

“I rise in support of the DeLauro amendment, which strikes language that bars military women and dependents overseas from purchasing abortion services with their own money. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and to reject the Dornan amendment. The Dornan amendment goes much further than simply limiting the use of Government funds. It actually bars military women and dependents from using their own money to pay for abortion services at military bases, just as they would use their own funds to pay for those services if they were in the United States. The Dornan amendment also puts the health of our military women at risk. Many of these women are stationed in countries where there is no access to safe and legal abortions outside of the military hospitals. A woman forced to seek an abortion to local facilities, or forced to wait to travel to acquire safe abortion services, faces tremendous health risks. It is unimaginable to me and to the American people that we would reward American servicewomen who have volunteered to serve this Nation by violating their constitutional right to a safe abortion.”