July 21st,2021-CODEPINK joined faith and fellow peace organizations calling on the Senate Armed Services Committee to eliminate the Selective Service System completely. The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to consider an amendment from Chairman Jack Reed to require women to register for a military draft.
In a letter to the Senate Armed Services Committee, CODEPINK joined faith and peace groups urging the committee to "abolish the Selective Service System (SSS) and reject any attempt to add women to the group upon which the burden of draft registration is imposed. Selective Service has been a failure, described as “less than useless” for its stated purpose by its former director, Dr. Bernard Rostker, and expansion of Selective Service
registration to women is not widely supported."
The letter further argues "The argument that extending the registration requirement to women is a way to help reduce gender-based discrimination is specious. It does not represent a move forward for women; it represents a move backward, imposing on young women a burden that young men have had to bear unjustly for decades – a burden that no young person should have to bear at all. Women’s equality should not have to be earned through complicity in militarism".
You can read the full letter here.
