Raped in the Military? They won’t Pay For The Abortion

By Rachel Belle

Listen
to No Abortions if You’re Raped While Serving in
the Military

Reading through articles online recently, I came across
something that completely shocked me. I learned that the
military will not cover abortion costs for women who have
been raped and become pregnant while in service. Women
have to either pay out of pocket or choose to have the
baby. Just a few weeks ago, a New Hampshire senator tried to expand abortion
access for women raped in the military, but with
strong Republican opposition it’s not expected to make it
in. Last year, five other representatives tried to do the
same and failed.

“Jennifer” is a Military Sexual Trauma advocate for the
Military Rape Crisis Center in Maine. She spent the past
15 years serving in the Maine Air National Guard, but her
introduction to the military was quite traumatic. A couple
months before boot camp she was invited to a new recruit
party by her recruiter, where she believes she was
drugged.

“That was my first experience in the US military. Less
than a week after I joined, I was raped by my recruiter.”

But she was too ashamed to tell anyone and, not long
after, she realized she was pregnant.

“Oh God, it was horrible because I wanted to forget
about that night as it was, but I had this constant
reminder inside of me. I was supposed to leave for Basic
Training in a couple of months.”

She decided to have an abortion and asked her dad for
the money. Two months later, Jennifer was shipped off to
basic training and she eventually worked as a Satellite
Communications Technician. But her brush with sexual
assault wasn’t over.

“After I ran into the fourth sexual predator in the
military, and was completely beat down after two years of
serving, that’s when I finally said something to my
commander about all the different encounters that I had. I
just couldn’t take it anymore.”

After finally telling someone what had happened, she
contacted the recruiter who raped her.

“I found out that the recruiter had done it to someone
else that I knew. I was not the first victim, he was a
serial predator. So I called up the recruiter and told him
that when I got home I was going to turn him in for rape.
By the time I got home, he was gone. He had quit his
position and took off. He was close to retirement, he was
higher ranking and nobody leaves those positions.”

Jennifer started to blame the military for not helping
her in her times of crisis.

“They do a horrible job of protecting their women, it’s
all about taking care of the good old boys. The reason I
never said anything the first time was out of shame, the
reason I didn’t say anything later was because I
recognized quickly that there was zero tolerance for
reporting sexual assault. It actually made the woman look
bad if you reported any kind of sexual misconduct. I was
afraid I was going to lose my career.”

Jennifer says that despite these horrible experiences,
she still loved being a part of the military and she
didn’t want to quit and let these predators get away with
what they’d done.

“I just didn’t feel that it was fair that because I was
violated that I should let them run me out. My mentality
was, it’s my duty to speak. I need to tell these guys what
the predators are doing so they don’t do it to anyone
else.”

Now she wants to make sure other women always report
sexual assault.

“The most important message, that I want to get out to
women, is that regardless of whether they think it’s their
fault or not, to report. Regardless of how it impacts
their career. I didn’t report because I was afraid of how
it would impact my career. It did impact my career
negatively, but it was still the best thing I could have
ever done.”

She thinks the military needs a complete culture change
in order to solve this problem.

“What we’d like to see done is actually have a violent
crime like that reported to an outside agency that would
handle an investigation with professionalism, it would be
fair, and when they do prosecute, they get it
right the first time. The punishment that’s given matches
the crime.”

In the past, talking to a counselor on base didn’t
offer any confidentiality. The counselor could report
everything you talked about to your commander. But just
last year a change has been made.

President Obama issued an executive order to ensure
confidentiality for a victim who seeks out services for
rape in the military.

If you have been sexually assaulted while in
the military, click
here to find out what you should do.
To post about your experience or to read about other
women’s sexual assaults (including Jennifer’s)
visit
My Duty To Speak.