'Slap in the face': Marine veteran blasts House GOP over defense bill vote restricting reproductive rights
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, Republican lawmakers across the country have continued working towards limiting abortion access as much as possible.
The latest move, according to The New York Times, on Thursday, July 13, House members "voted 221 to 213 to overturn a Pentagon policy guaranteeing abortion access to service members regardless of where they are stationed, with Republicans propelling it to passage over near-unanimous Democratic opposition."
The Times reports the vote was also in support of banning transgender health care, as well as limiting diversity training for military personnel, which delayed the passing of House defense policy legislation, known as the National Defense Authorization Act.
Before the House eventually passed the bill Friday evening, according to CNN, after "heated exchanges on the floor" over the restrictive reproductive healthcare aspect of the legislation, MSNBC Deadline White House host Nicole Wallace interviewed Marine veteran Amy McGrath regarding her thoughts on the policy.
"First of all, it's an unprecedented move by Republicans to insert this right-wing ideological agenda into our military and into our national security," McGrath said. "What the Republicans just voted on is they want to ban women in the military from being able to cross state lines, and leave their bases and go and get reproductive healthcare in a state where they can get what they need. That's what the Republicans voted for yesterday. It's ludicrous. And frankly, it is a slap in the face to every woman in the military — people who put their lives on the line."
The veteran continued, "And the military entrusted me to fly a $70 million jet into combat with thousands of pounds of bombs at my fingertips, and now the Republicans don't want to trust women in the military, people like me, to be able to control their own reproductive healthcare decisions. That's where we're at in this country right now. It's outrageous."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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The New York Times' full report is available at this link (subscription required). CNN's report is here.
