Dear Chairmen Reed and Rogers, and Ranking Members Wicker and Smith,
On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we urge you to protect the health, safety, and well-being of all our military service members and families by rejecting harmful riders targeting reproductive and gender-affirming care in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). These provisions threaten access to critical health care for military families, invite a culture of discrimination and harassment, and would exacerbate the readiness, retention, and recruitment crisis that the military is already facing.
We call on Congress to reject any bans or restrictions on health care access for military service members and dependents in the NDAA, including for gender-affirming care and reproductive health care. Current proposals in the House and Senate NDAA would risk the health of transgender members and dependents, and perpetuate baseless myths about gender-affirming care. The House NDAA also contains a broad provision attacking reproductive health care access – including abortion and fertility care – and the rights of military providers to provide such care. Everyone deserves to live safe and healthy lives without health care barriers – and when service members join the military, they are promised access to comprehensive health care for them and their families. We must uphold this promise by rejecting harmful bans and restrictions that have no place in the NDAA. Passing these riders would create a dangerous precedent in major legislation, codifying bans on health care in a bill that should help, not harm, service members and their families. We strongly urge you to reject them.
We further urge you to ensure that other discriminatory riders stay out of the final NDAA package, including those that attack LGBTQI+ service members and dependents, and threaten diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the military. A more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming military benefits all who fill its ranks. We cannot regress to the days when service members were discriminated against or harassed for who they were or who they loved. A renewed culture of hate and stigma would force service members out of the military – impacting thousands – thereby threatening military readiness and undermining the tremendous investments made in service members’ military training and experience.
We are deeply concerned about the politicization of major bills such as the NDAA and these attacks against service members, veterans, and their families. There should be no compromise when it comes to our fundamental rights. We urge you to reject these harmful riders in the final NDAA.
Sincerely,
(see the full list of signatories in the official letter here)