Reversing Roe Would Harm Military Readiness, Abortion-Rights Advocates Warn – By Jacqueline Feldscher (Defense One) / May 9, 2022
“If a woman is considering enlisting, I would highly encourage her to rethink that choice,” said one veteran.
When Rachel VanLandingham was a lieutenant in the Air Force, she was ordered to accompany a female officer to a substandard medical facility in Seoul to get a “back-alley abortion.” Abortions were illegal in South Korea at the time, and her commander would not grant her two weeks off to get a legal abortion in the United States.
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade—as is suggested by a draft decision revealed by Politico on Monday that was confirmed by Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday—some two dozen states are expected to quickly enact laws that put safe, legal abortions out of reach of many more U.S. troops.
“It was just shocking to me that this is what we were doing to service members. No one cared….It was abhorrent,” said VanLandingham, a former Air Force judge advocate who is now a professor at Southwestern Law School. “This isn’t occurring just in South Korea now. This is going to occur in Texas.”
