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The U.S. Senate has passed a provision that would require women to register for the draft, but don't expect any changes soon:
On Tuesday, the Senate passed a defense authorization bill that would require young women to register for the draft — the latest development in a long-running debate over whether women should sign up for the Selective Service. The provision would apply to women turning 18 in 2018 or later and would impose the same requirements and rules that currently apply to men.
The policy is still far from being law. The House, after considering a similar provision earlier this spring, ultimately passed an authorization bill that omitted it; the two branches of Congress now must resolve the differences between their bills. And the bill faces a veto threat from President Obama over other elements of the legislation, such as the prohibition on closing down the Guantanamo Bay military prison. But the bill's passage brings women a step closer to Selective Service registration — a historic change that has bipartisan support in Congress but is firmly opposed by some conservative lawmakers.
For decades, the U.S. policy of having a draft for men, and not women, was approved as constitutional by the Supreme Court. But as NPR's David Welna reported last year, the court's reasoning relied on the fact that women were barred from combat roles. Now that women are eligible for combat duty, "Congress seems to have lost its court-endorsed rationale for limiting Selective Service registration to males only," David wrote.
Previously: Women Warriors Coming Soon to US Forces
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @02:03PM
Back when I was a young buck, I was facing down up to five years and/or a fine of not more than $250,000 for not signing up and also giving up the chance to go to college for having moral reservations about Bush the Elder's plans in Iraq (I believe the chant then was "no blood for oil"). The idea that there was never going to be a draft again was less clear.
A few decades of war later, it turns out having a strictly volunteer armed forces isn't such a great idea unless you want forced tours that were longer than required for Viet Nam and suicide being the number one killer of servicemen. The idea of there never being a draft again is even more in doubt.
I'll grant the notion of civic duty is perverse given what the government has turned into, but there you go, and as were the criticisms of the well-connected in Viet Nam: you can't have the moral hazard of one group of people voting to have the other sent off to the lines who bear no risk. Hence the lowering of the voting age.
And now it seems requiring women to bear some of the burden as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @02:57PM
AFAIK most states auto-register you with the federal government, giving the SSS the information they need and still leaving the door open to selective prosecution if you fail to register yourself.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday June 16 2016, @03:56PM
That's probably true. That's how the degenerates running recruiting for the Navy got my contact info when I was in high school. I had to put up with several years of abuse over the phone from the Navy, even though I wasn't yet old enough to enlist and wasn't old enough to be required to register for the draft.
It really casts the Navy in a bad light that the kind of people that are enlisting are stupid enough to fall for the lies and the abusive recruiting efforts.
Contrast that with the Army recruiter that handled things like a professional.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @03:59PM
The states don't "auto-register" you. You have to register yourself because there is language you have to agree to. Nobody can auto-register for you.