Women in the U.S. could soon be required to sign up for the draft if language in the draft National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 ends up in the final version of the bill.
According to The Hill, a version of the act that includes requirements for women to register for selective service upon turning 18 was approved behind closed doors Wednesday by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Of course, this language still has a long way to go before becoming law, as the bill has yet to pass the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives before being signed by President Joe Biden.
If this language makes it through those legislative hurdles, women would have to sign up for Selective Service – as all men do between age 18 and 25 – for the first time in the nation’s history, according to Roll Call. Though men are required to register, the draft has not been used since the Vietnam War.
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When combat roles in the U.S. armed forces were opened up to women in 2015, debate on requiring conscription for women heated up, according to Roll Call. Although armed services panels in both the House and the Senate approved a change that would require women to sign up for selective service in 2016, it did not end up in the final version of the act in 2017.
At that time, Republicans worked to remove the provision. Instead, a mandated study of the issue was required by the 2017 bill. While there has been bipartisan support for including women in the draft, some are still opposed to the measure.
Last year, a committee created by Congress recommended women be included in the draft and, in 2019, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the all-male draft is unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court passed on a case questioning whether the draft is constitutional last month on the grounds that the issue would soon be addressed by Congress.
“I actually think if we want equality in this country, if we want women to be treated precisely like men are treated and that they should not be discriminated against, we should be willing to support a universal conscription,” said Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee. Speier tried to persuade the House to include the provision in 2017.
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An analysis published by the Pew Research Center in 2019 shows fewer than one-third of countries have mandatory conscription. Of the 60 countries found with active conscription programs, only 11 draft men and women.
The Senate’s draft bill also includes another history-making addition: the creation of special military justice offices that would decide whether to prosecute allegations of sexual assault and most other felonies. This job is now performed by senior officers in the chain of command of the accused.
According to Roll Call, the House plans to mark up its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, including the provision to include women in the draft, next week.
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