For the second year in a row Congress has opted to not mandate the registration of women for the Selective Service System’s military draft.
Agudath Israel of America is hailing Capitol Hill leadership and key members of both the House and Senate for withstanding enormous pressure and holding firm on dropping the measure from the National Defense Authorization Act, which has been sent to President Biden for signing. The registration framework will be utilized in the event that the draft is reinstated and there is need to mobilize the armed forces for military conflict or national emergency.
Over the years, many issues have been raised in regard to manpower, management and morale of the military in the event that women would be required to serve alongside men in service to their country. In Agudath Israel’s view, these concerns are real and independently justify opposition to the women’s draft mandate. But in addition to these general concerns, Agudath Israel has highlighted to lawmakers the very compelling issue of how the draft registration requirement would infringe upon the religious liberty of women in the Orthodox Jewish community and others who have religious objection to such military service.
In two years of communications with the White House, Congressional leadership, members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, and other groups, Agudath Israel’s Vice President for Government Affairs and Washington Director, Rabbi Abba Cohen, explained the religious imperative at stake here. “Clearly, an in-depth survey of religious traditions relating to women’s participation in warfare and defense was beyond the scope of legislative discussion,” noted Rabbi Cohen. “But there is no question that a generalized requirement for all women to register for the draft for the purpose of serving in some unknown military capacity in the future would be highly objectionable to many religiously-observant women. Indeed, it is likely that large numbers of these women will resist registration.”
The proposed mandate would have included no exceptions for women’s registration or service. Nor are the law’s existing exemptions or deferments necessarily applicable to all women with religious objections to any form of military or civilian service. “Simply put, women would have no idea what they were signing up for, and both rabbinic leaders and families in the community contacted our office expressing much worry and disquiet over the prospect.”
This is not the first time that women’s draft registration has been on Agudath Israel’s agenda. In 1979, Agudath Israel urged President Jimmy Carter to withstand pressure at the time and reject attempts to register women if the draft were reinstated, noting the threat to First Amendment rights and traditional family values.
Since that time, societal pressure to include women in the draft has only increased. In 2013, the Department of Defense lifted its bans on women in combat. Three years later, the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service – a creation of Congress – recommended draft registration for men and women. And last year, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to rule on the issue, a request that was declined in deference to the fact that the issue was being considered at the time in Congress. In light of the mounting bipartisan popularity of the notion of women being part of any future draft, the hard-won victory these past two years by Agudath Israel and its allies on Capitol Hill is all the more impressive.
On the Senate side, Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ted Cruz, (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), James Lankford (R-OK), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Steve Daines (R-MT), and John Boozman (AR), led the opposition to the women’s draft registration mandate. In the House, Representatives Chip Roy (R-TX) and Vicki Hartzler (R-MO) were among those who opposed the measure.
“The issue of the women’s draft may continue to rear its head in Congress and the Supreme Court, but we will be vigilant,” concluded Rabbi Cohen. “We will do our utmost to demonstrate that fundamental freedoms of women in the Orthodox Jewish and other communities would be jeopardized were a draft to include women. That should be cause for concern among all who cherish religious liberty.”
