Do Women Have To Register For The Draft

An effort to require women to register for the draft gained steam last week, as the House Armed Services Committee voted to include the proposal in the annual defense bill.

Now, both the House and Senate defense bills include bipartisan provisions requiring women to register with the Selective Service System, meaning those provisions are likely to appear in the final version of the bill.

There has not been a military draft in the United States in nearly 50 years, but almost all male citizens and immigrants between the ages of 18 and 26 are required to register with the Selective Service System.

Though women have made up an increasing share of military personnel and now serve in combat positions, they are exempt from registering.

"Women make up over 50% of our population and not including them in the Selective Service is not only a disservice to these women but also to our nation as a whole," Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, a Pennsylvania Democrat and Air Force veteran, said last week after offering an amendment to the defense bill requiring women to register for the draft.

Houlahan said the current policy of male-only registration is unconstitutional discrimination.

Republican Rep. Michael Waltz, of Florida, who co-sponsored the amendment, noted that a large percentage of young people don't meet military standards because they are physically unfit, have criminal records or for other reasons.

"We cannot fence off half of our population in a national emergency, particularly those that can be pilots, cyberwarriors ...  you name it, across the board," he said.

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The amendment passed 35-24, carried primarily by Democrats, who control the committee.

Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Oklahoma City, a member of the panel, voted against the amendment.

"I'm proud of the women who choose to serve in the military, but I do not believe they should be compelled to do so," Bice said in a statement.

"Mothers, sisters and wives support our service members in ways too numerous to count, of their own accord, and that is the way I believe it should remain."

Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican, debated against the amendment, saying it was unnecessary because women would volunteer, as they do now, in the case of a national emergency requiring men to be drafted.

"We don't need to draft women in order for women to have equality in this nation," Hartzler said. "Women are of worth and of value right now, and we are equal with men without having to pass a new law that would require 50% of this country — our daughters and our sisters and our wives — to have to be drafted."

A national commission created to examine military and national service concluded last year that the Selective Service System should remain in place as the most efficient means of calling up citizens for duty in a national emergency and that women should be required to register.

Joseph J. Heck, the chairman of the Commission on Military, National and Public Service, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March, "Women have served in every war throughout American history, and more than 224,000 serve in the U.S. Armed Forces today.

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"Since the decision by the Department of Defense to open combat roles to women starting in 2016, thousands have proven they are qualified to serve in combat. Therefore, the Commission has found that women and men are equally capable of performing duties that meet the needs of the Department of Defense in a national emergency."

A group called the National Coalition for Men sued the Selective Service System for not requiring women to register, and that case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices declined in June to review the case. In a brief order, three justices said that "the Court's longstanding deference to Congress on matters of national defense and military affairs cautions against granting review while Congress actively weighs the issue."

The high court in 1981 upheld a males-only draft, ruling that the draft was intended for combat replacements and that women were barred from combat.

A group of retired military generals and admirals — including Michael Hayden, who also served as CIA director, and Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan — argued to the Supreme Court this year that women should be required to register since they are now eligible for combat.

""Doubling the pool of potential draftees would do more than give the military an opportunity to draw on a larger pool of qualified candidates to meet its needs in the face of a large-scale conflict," they said.

"It would also permit the military to select the most qualified civilian candidates available for any given role in the military — meaning, a more qualified woman could be chosen in the place of a less qualified man."

According to the former military leaders, more than 300,000 women were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001; more than 9,000 female troops had earned Combat Action Badges by 2015, which was before the completion of integrating women into combat arms occupations; nearly 200 women have died in combat; and more than 1,000 have been wounded in action.

"Allowing women to officially compete for combat occupations both recognized and honored the courageous service of these service members, by providing women the same opportunities for advancement accorded to men with similar service records," they said.

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"Requiring women as well as men to register for the Selective Service would send a clear message that the military values the service of its women equally alongside the service of its men."

Under the amendment approved by the House, the requirement for women to register would go into effect one year after the defense bill is signed into law.

Though Bice opposed the amendment on women registering for the draft, she voted for the overall defense bill last week in committee. Likewise, Oklahoma Sen Jim Inhofe, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, opposed the committee provision requiring women to register but supported the overall bill.

The full House and Senate are expected to take up the defense bills in the next few weeks.

Do Women Have To Register For The Draft

Source: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/local/oklahoma-city/2021/09/06/congress-house-armed-services-committee-women-draft-selective-service-system/5713513001/

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