Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is drafting a bill to keep women from getting drafted into military service. Lee plans to introduce the bill as early as Thursday, National Review reports.
Historically, women have never been required to register for the Selective Service System. Only men between the ages of 18-25 are required to register, and by doing so they could be drafted into the military and compelled to fight in times of war.
Women have been kept from registering for the draft because of a Department of Defense policy barring women from fighting in combat roles. Recently, the DoD reversed that policy, which opened up the possibility that women could be required to register for the Selective Service System.
But Lee wants to make sure that doesn’t happen. His bill would keep women from being required to register for the draft regardless of the policies surrounding women in combat roles. It would also reiterate that only Congress has the constitutional authority to change who is and isn’t compelled to register for the draft.
During the Republican presidential debate last week in New Hampshire, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie spoke up in support for compelling women to register for the Selective Service. Hours after the debate, Ted Cruz released a statement decrying his opponents stances, stating that attempting to make the military adhere to political correctness by asserting that men and women are the same is dangerous.
“The idea that we would draft our daughters to forcibly bring them into the military and put them in close combat, I think, is wrong,” Cruz said. “It is immoral. I’m the father of two little girls, they are capable of doing anything they desire, but the idea that their government would forcibly put them in a foxhole doesn’t make any sense at all.”
