Bill Text: HI SR81 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Women's Health

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-21 - (S) Referred to HTH, JDL. [SR81 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2011-SR81-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	81
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the united states congress to lift the ban on private funding of abortions at military bases.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the ban on privately funded abortions discriminates against women and their families who have volunteered to serve their country and have been assigned to military posts overseas; and

 

     WHEREAS, by refusing to allow a woman to use her own funds to pay for an abortion at a military facility, except in very limited circumstances, the United States Congress has placed an often insurmountable obstacle in her path that does not exist for civilian women and families; and

 

     WHEREAS, the ban on privately funded abortions in military facilities poses grave health risks and leaves service women and their families far worse off than civilian women; and

 

     WHEREAS, if a servicewoman (or family member) is prohibited from accessing abortion services on a military base, she may have no choice but to use local facilities that may be substandard or unsafe, and the costs, time, and obvious risks involved prevent some women from obtaining the care they otherwise could have received; and

 

     WHEREAS, in light of the tragically high incidence of rape and sexual assaults suffered by women in the military, servicewomen should not be further harmed by the denial of safe abortion services; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, that the United States Congress is requested to:

 

     (1)  Recognize that over 365,000 women serve in the United States Armed Forces and that more than 100,000 are currently stationed and serving overseas;

 

     (2)  Express concern that at a time when the United States is engaged in wars on two fronts, and servicewomen put their lives and limbs at risk to preserve American rights and freedom, it is deeply troubling that American servicewomen are denied access to safe, legal abortion when they serve abroad; and

 

     (3)  Act to lift the ban on private funding of abortions at military bases; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Women's Health