Title

The Military Abortion Ban: How 10 U.S.C. Section 1093 Violates International Standards of Reproductive Healthcare

Abstract

Under 10 U.S.C. Section 1093, women in the military cannot obtain abortion services in military hospitals even if they use their own funds. Women who are stationed abroad are forced to search for services elsewhere in the foreign country in which they are stationed, facing cultural barriers, language barriers, difficult travel arrangements and high costs. In the last ten years, clear standards of reproductive health emerged at an international level, with women’s health being the center of the International Conference on Population and Development, and the Fourth World Conference on Women, among others. The United States is simultaneously encouraging developing countries to address women’s health, specifically access to safe abortion, while at the same time jeopardizing the health of American women in the military with its unsound abortion policy.

Disciplines

International Law | Law and Gender | Military, War, and Peace

Date of this Version

February 2007