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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPres. Obama ends 30-year ban on insurance coverage of abortions for military victims of rape/incest
Allison Yarrow ?@AliYarrow
(President) Obama signs DAA repealing 30-year ban on insurance coverage of abortions for military women victims of rape and incest.
____The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, which the president signed into law late Wednesday night, has been assailed by liberals and libertarians for authorizing the indefinite detention of American citizens. But the annual spending bill this year made a different sort of history as well by repealing the generation-long ban on insurance coverage for abortions for members of the armed services who are victims of rape and incestfinally giving those women the guaranteed affordable coverage in those circumstances that federal prisoners, civilian employees and Medicaid recipients have long received . . .
New Hampshires senior senator Jeanne Shaheen, who introduced the amendment repealing the ban that had been in effect since 1981 (PDF) called the bills passage an important step toward ending a policy that was blatantly unfair to women putting their lives on the line. Currently, military insurance only covers abortions performed to save the life of the mother, and military health care facilities will only perform them to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape and incest. Shaheens amendment will let insurance pick up the cost of the procedure in such cases, rather than forcing the woman to pay out of pocket . . .
Shaheen, who has long worked to secure reproductive rights advances for women, agreed that rape in the military is still a systemic problem, which needs to be addressed, and deemed the repeal of the abortion ban is a small step in that direction.
We have a long way to go to ensuring policies are carried out across the military, she said.
read more: http://thebea.st/136afU4
LiberalLoner
(9,762 posts)patrice
(47,992 posts)obamanut2012
(26,158 posts)Last edited Thu Jan 3, 2013, 05:01 PM - Edit history (1)
And take personal leave. So, raped in Iraq and need an abortion? Take leave, if granted, and pay costs to fly to Germany or the UK, pay all costs while there, then pay travel back to your base in Iraq. Or 29 Palms, or wherever.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Thank you Mr. President!
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)SunSeeker
(51,745 posts)I am so proud of him!
Cha
(297,799 posts)thanks for the news bigtree
sheshe2
(83,953 posts)mzmolly
(51,010 posts)Yes indeed!
LynneSin
(95,337 posts)"A little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down." Yes, we must cheer the progress, where ever we can find it. It's a shame that the women have to bear the cost of flying somewhere to have an abortion performed. Whenever it occurs, I think a female Medic should be flown into the theater of operation to perform the abortion. The military should incur all the costs. And the military should hold the rapist accountable as well.