Are Women’s Rights Causing the Government Shutdown and How Does That Affect Our Troops?

This shutdown is set to affect many Americans in a variety of ways (for an overview, click here). But for troops who put their lives on the line everyday for our country, this shutdown means doing so without pay.

Veteran Affairs will continue as normal, they have a 2 year budget cycle in place which basically means that for the short-term, they should be alright. Although they will lose some staff, most medical facilities will continue as normal.

Many people in the military who benefit from the GI Bill are reasonably concerned that their education will be affected by this shutdown. As of now, that’s not the case. But like the VA office, any precautions that have been taken to assure money still goes where it’s supposed to are temporary.

What is being directly affected is the pay of federal employees, including those currently serving our military. When questioned about his thoughts on the shutdown, a current petty officer first class in the Navy said:

“I understand my responsibility to my country and the uniform I put on everyday so I understand that I need to continue to serve with or without pay up to a certain point. But to see that the individuals who have decided I might not receive pay will still get paid, it really is shameful especially when ideological items are on the table instead of plain budget matters.”

The major points he is referring to is that (1) Congress will still get paid even after the government shutdown and (2) the specific ideology he’s talking about is the defunding of Planned Parenthood that is attached to the problems with the budget.  At the forefront of the anti-Planned Parenthood crusade is Mike Pence, a Republican from Indiana who is against abortion.

The misleading part of Pence’s argument is that none of the federal money that goes to Planned Parenthood is allocated toward abortion services. In fact, those only account for 10% of what the Planned Parenthood does.  Some of the more prevalent services they offer are: cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening and other general reproductive health issues. In fact, six in 10 women who use the clinic’s services don’t even have a family doctor, so they use the Planned Parenthood for more general healthcare issues.

All these factors and many, many more account for why we could see a government shutdown today. Let’s hope both parties in our government understand exactly what is at stake if this shutdown goes through and prevent it before too many Americans are affected by it.