Differing Perspectives- Military Women and Abortion Synthesis

During this ongoing controversy, several columnist depict different scenarios to justify their opinions on whether the U.S. Department of Defense should cover the costs of abortions for women serving in the military. The majority of the editorials I found believed that Congress should allow women to have their expenses covered, especially in the case of rape (incest is less frequent when overseas). Although I understand the opposing viewpoint, the case in which Post-traumatic stress disorder results as an outcome in the emotional procedure (affecting how a woman in the military completes her given tasks at work), I disagree with columnists, such as Jody Duffy. It's simply irrational to completely deny a military servicewomen the right to this procedure, which is what military hospitals must abide to currently. Even if the woman is willing to cover the entire cost of the abortion, the U.S. Department of Defense even denies her this, which American Civil Liberties Union states in their editorial, making military hospitals a burden and feelings of resentment begin to show, which does not benefit the military in any way. I believe that it is unfair to make a woman who is serving our country and risking her life choose between traveling far and costly distances towards an American (non-military) clinic or to a back-alley clinic who 70% of the time result in an unsanitary procedure which the Sun Times stresses as well. A woman who is protecting hundreds of people a day deserves that same protection from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Differing Perspectives- Military Women and Abortion (pt. 4)

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/07/abortion-keep-our-military-abortion-free-blowback.html

Unlike many, the majority of people who have formed an opinion on whether the cost of abortions should be covered by the military are third party participants, Jody Duffy believes that someone who has actually gone through an abortion while serving in the military would have a completely different opinion. While a significant number of onlookers of the issue believe that women should have the right to have a full covered abortion, Duffy disagrees. She believes that abortions change a person completely and how it affects their work in the military. She says this from personal experience stating that she lost her identity and that her job could not be done effectively. Duffy believes that the problem of sexual assault should be solved directly rather than allowing it to get to the stage where an abortion would be needed. She wants onlookers to know that PTSD affects a person who has had an abortion; it affects them physically, emotionally and socially.

Differing Perspectives- Military Women and Abortion (pt. 3)

http://www.aclu.org/lift-abortion-bans-us-servicewomen-deserve-equal-treatment-fairness-and-compassion

 In this American Civil Liberties Union editorial, the author stresses that over 400,000 women are giving up precious time with their families to serve our country, and how it is unfair that Congress will not serve them back for their duties. The Department of Defense has put a ban on covering the costs of an abortion, even in the possible case of rape or incest. If the servicewomen is overseas, the clinics in which an abortion can be performed can deny her of the procedure because insurance cannot cover this. The only way they will cover the costs is if the life of the woman is endanger, endangered to the point of a near-death situation. Sexual assault occurs quite often in the military, and Congress seems to forget that fact. ACLU stresses the fact that these women protect hundreds to thousands of civilians, so they deserve the same respect and dignity as these civilians.