Hawaii-2012-SR9-Introduced

WHEREAS, female military personnel have the same right to basic health care services as their male counterparts, and reproductive health care is a fundamental component of health care for women; and

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

WHEREAS, the ban on privately funded abortions in military facilities poses grave health risks and places an insurmountable obstacle to access quality healthcare leaving servicewomen and military dependents far worse off than civilian women; 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; and

WHEREAS, the ban on abortions at military facilities requires a woman to go to a private hospital or clinic, which leaves the woman no choice but to use a local facility that may be substandard or unsafe; and

WHEREAS, obtaining an abortion in a local hospital is virtually impossible for many of the estimated 100,000 American servicewomen in foreign countries, particularly in Afghanistan; and

WHEREAS, the costs, time, and obvious risks involved in obtaining an abortion outside of military facilities prevent some servicewomen and military dependents from obtaining the health care they otherwise could have received; and

WHEREAS, under current law, title 10 United States Code section 1093(a) provides that funds available to the Department of Defense may be used to perform abortions only where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term; and

WHEREAS, under title 10 United States Code section 1093(b), Department of Defense medical facilities may be used to perform abortions where the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term or in a case in which the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest; and

WHEREAS, restricting the use of United States Department of Defense funds for abortions to only those instances where the mother's life would be endangered risks the lives of many servicewomen by forcing victims of rape or incest to personally fund and contract for abortion procedures with foreign physicians in many countries that lack medical personnel trained to the standards of United States physicians; and

WHEREAS, providing military women serving overseas the same access to basic health care, including safe abortions at military facilities, is an issue of basic fairness; 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 military actions on multiple fronts, and servicewomen put their lives 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

(4) Amend section 1093(a) of title 10 United States Code to allow funds available to the Department of Defense to be used to perform abortions in cases in which a pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest; 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

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	9
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012
STATE OF HAWAII