Legislation first introduced by U.S. Representative Julia Brownley (D-CA), pictured here, would require the GAO to study the impact of discharging women servicemembers from the Armed Forces between 1951 and 1976 due to pregnancy or parenthood.
A bill advanced by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee would require the Government Accountability Office to review women “involuntarily separated or discharged from the Armed Forces because of pregnancy or parenthood” between 1951 and 1976.
Officially known as the Justice for Women Veterans Act, the bill was first introduced by U.S. Representative Julia Brownley (D-CA) and is now slated for debate in Congress.
According to Rep. Brownley, and if the act is passed, the resultant investigation would “identify any irregularities in discharges that may have left these women without the veterans’ benefits that they earned…and also make recommendations to restore those benefits.” Additionally, the study would evaluate the larger impact of the bill as well as if it affected any demographic disproportionally.
The policy to discharge women from the Armed Forces due to pregnancy or parenthood, regardless of whether the pregnancy was “planned, unplanned, or the result of sexual violence” was first instituted in 1951 by President Harry S. Truman via Executive Order 10240. However, the bill was found to be unconstitutional in 1976.
During that time, thousands of women veterans are believed to have been discharged from the military without receiving benefits of any kind.
2021 House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Bills
The Justice for Women Veterans Act is just one of 18 separate bills advanced by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Nov. 4. Readers can view our breakdown of the bills here: Overview: House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Advance 18 Bills Tackling Wide Range of Veterans Issues | California American Legion (calegion.org)
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
The gov. needs to accept that those who served in the military, whether male or female, should be treated as a veteran . Women are the ones who are the only ones who bring us to life by birth. The only male who was put on earth was Adam by God. God put Eve to have a mate to bear the family.