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Strickland: We Must Protect Our Servicemembers’ Right to Safe Reproductive and Abortion Care

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06), and Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51) introduced the bicameral Military Access to Reproductive Care and Health (MARCH) for Military Servicemembers Act, to allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to use available funds and facilities to perform abortions.

“Abortion care is healthcare, and we have a duty to ensure that all women, including those wearing the uniform, can exercise their constitutional right to receive access to safe and legal abortion," said Rep. Marilyn Strickland. "Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, MAGA extremists have attacked and stripped away the right to reproductive freedom. I'm proud to lead the MARCH for Servicemembers Act, ensuring that the Department of Defense will protect and provide servicemembers and their families access to reproductive healthcare, wherever they are stationed.”

“Our service members put their lives on the line to defend our country, and like every American, they should have access to safe, legal reproductive health services,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “As a result of the Dobbs decision, our troops’ ability to receive health care services now depends on where they are sent. The MARCH for Servicemembers Act will protect the constitutional right of our nation’s military personnel to make decisions about their bodies, lives, and futures. I will continue fighting to ensure that reproductive freedom is a fundamental right for our service members.”

"I hear my Republican colleagues talk about how much they trust our service members with making decisions that protect the lives of their fellow service members and ultimately the lives of all Americans, yet many of those same colleagues believe that we cannot trust service members and their families to decide if, how, and when to have children. That is hypocrisy in its highest form." said Rep. Chrissy Houlahan. "Access to all forms of health care, including abortion, in the military is about freedom – our military families sacrifice so much for us, yet too many of my colleagues have decided that our armed forces should not have something as fundamental as bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom. Discussing the importance of military readiness, Houlahan added: “Access to abortion is also a matter of military readiness. To be ready to fight tomorrow's wars, we must recruit and retain the brightest minds and fiercest fighters this country has to offer. We don't do that by telling service women, spouses, and their families they can't seek reproductive care – care that is available to their civilian counterparts. I'm introducing the MARCH Act alongside Congresswomen Jacobs, Strickland and Senator Gillibrand because we trust in our military, and they should trust in us as well."

“Our service members volunteered to serve our country – not to give up their reproductive rights,” said Congresswoman Sara Jacobs. “While there have always been steep barriers to getting this care, it’s even more difficult in the post-Roe era for our service members to take enough time off work, travel thousands of miles, and pay out of pocket to receive the care they need. That’s why I’m so proud to co-lead the MARCH for Servicemembers Act, which would lift harmful restrictions and allow the military to provide abortions and coverage for them. Empowering and supporting our service members to make their own health care decisions is key for living our values and ensuring our military readiness.”

Endorsing organizations include the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Center for Reproductive Rights, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Partnership for Women and Family, National Women’s Law Center (NWLC),  Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Service Women’s Action Network.  

U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She is the Congressional Black Caucus whip, a member of the New Democrat Coalition, one of the first Korean-American women elected to Congress, and the first African-American elected to represent the Pacific Northwest at the federal level. 

Issues: Health Reproductive Rights 

Original source can be found here.