When the Biden administration unveiled its new maternity flight suits this spring, a lot of people were incredulous. Why would the military waste its time on something so unnecessary? But now, with Democrats about to force women to register for the draft, it's clear: we're going to need a lot more of them.
According to Biden's party, forcing women into combat is the only path to "pure equality." Of course, the idea of parity probably sounds great until you're putting your only daughter on a bus to boot camp. That's the uncomfortable reality facing a lot of parents as the House debates the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week. Thanks to Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and a handful of Republicans, America is on the brink of a fundamental departure from the Western worldview by asking women to fight its wars.
According to Democrats, that's only fair. "The current male-only registration sends a message to women -- not only that they are not vital to the defense of the country, but also that they are not expected to participate in defending it," Houlahan argued. Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) was appalled, firing back, "We don't need to draft women in order for women to have equality in this nation. Women are of worth and of value right now -- and we are equal with men without having to pass a new law that would require 50 percent of this country, our daughters, our sisters, and our wives, to have to be drafted." The committee disagreed -- breaking with principle and public opinion to include the change in the final bill.
Obviously, four years after Barack Obama, Biden is just picking up where his old boss left off -- injecting every sick form of political correctness into our military, no matter how dangerous or unpopular. "Ground combat is barbaric..." the editors at NRO point out. "It is not a video game. It is not a movie, where young Hollywood starlets karate-kick their way through masses of inept thugs and goons. When we order women into ground combat, we are ordering them into situations where men larger and stronger than they will show no mercy." Just look at the Middle East. What parent, watching the Taliban machete and rape its way through Afghanistan, would sentence our girls -- especially unwilling ones -- to killing fields like that one? I know I won't.
And the moms and dads in the House Freedom Caucus won't either. The conservative group issued a strongly-worded statement against the bill, urging members to reject Biden's political posturing. "Voting for this NDAA would be a vote to force all women, some of whom have no interest in the military, especially in combat roles, to register for Selective Service," they wrote. "Don't force women into combat."
Of the 763 amendments under consideration, few have been as explosive as the draft. And it's not, as FRC's Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin points out, because women aren't capable. As he explains in his op-ed for the Washington Examiner, many have served their country with distinction. But it's one thing to let women choose this path and another to force them into it. As a father of three girls, I would support my daughters if they decided to serve in the military, but I will not stand by and allow the government to force them -- or any other woman -- to take up arms against their will. It's unnatural, unbiblical, and, as Hartzler insisted, unnecessary.
"This is a solution in search of a problem," she insisted. "There are adequate numbers of males... [who have already] registered for the selective service. And if there was a crisis, I feel confident that enough people would volunteer and step up to meet that crisis. And we already have women serving valiantly. Over 16 percent of our military are women who voluntarily serve, so [changing the draft] is not necessary, and I think it's very concerning."
At the end of the day, FRC's Owen Strachan has written, men and women are unique. Equal in value, yes, but different in function. "Men don't ask women to protect them," he went on. "Period. This isn't about politics; this is about the essence of manhood, honor, God." Sparing our wives and daughters from the horrors of combat isn't some rigid and oppressive attempt to stifle women; it's an informed, compassionate, practical position based on volumes of research and centuries of fighting. If we allow the woke Left to redefine gender roles on the backs of our 18-year-old girls, then America is truly lost.
The real war on women is a war of women. The House Freedom Caucus understands that. It's a shame the Biden administration and countless Democrats don't.
This column appeared originally here. For more on the debate, check out "Women Should Not Be Drafted into Selective Service" by FRC's Mary Beth Waddell.
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