To have many brave women volunteering to serve our country, it is an honor that they chose to risk their lives. However, Sen. Josh Hawley-R, doesn’t feel that it is right to mandate women into military drafts.
Many would agree with Hawley that women should have a say in the matter. Women serve such a crucial role in our society, but many women don’t want to find themselves in a war zone like situation.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., filed an amendment Monday in an attempt to prevent Democrats from requiring women to register for the military draft – something he says is out of step with the American public.
Senate Armed Services Chair Jack Reed, D-R.I., had proposed changing the National Defense Authorization Act’s language to require all “all Americans,” rather than males, register for the draft. The current proposal uses the gender neutral “person.”
On Sunday, Hawley said he thought the idea was “so wrong and out of touch with most Americans.”
“Most Americans say if a woman wants to serve that’s wonderful – and by the way, women have been absolutely central to our war efforts since we have been a country, in many different ways, including of course fighting. But the idea that they be forced into compulsory service, I just think it’s crazy.”
“I know that’s how the people of Missouri feel. The fact that the Democrats – this is one of their top priorities for a bill that’s supposed to be about funding the military. What do they want to do? They want to force women to have to enter the draft.”
Requiring women’s registration has received bipartisan support in Congress, which mandated a commission that eventually backed the measure last year.
The 11-member commission concluded it was “a necessary and fair step, making it possible to draw on the talent of a unified Nation in a time of national emergency.”
However, the idea has become less popular among Americans. In August, an Ipsos poll showed that 45% of Americans supported drafting women compared to 63% in 2016. Support also broke down along gender lines with men favoring the idea at 55% compared to just 36% among women.
The issue caught headlines in June when the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the decades-old requirement. In her opinion, Justice Sotomayor deferred to Congress but indicated that a male-only draft could be challenged as discriminatory.
“It remains to be seen, of course, whether Congress will end gender-based registration under the Military Selective Service Act,” she said. “But at least for now, 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.”
