From Draft NOtices, January-March 2021
Likelihood of Legislation to Expand Draft Registration to Women
— Rick Jahnkow
Based on developments in the courts and the political views expressed by President-elect Biden and many members of his leadership circle, there is a strong possibility that draft registration could be adopted for women and imposed on them as early as 2022. Some members of Congress have promised to introduce the necessary legislation in 2021, and Joe Biden has indicated he favors it.
At a minimum, the Selective Service System is already showing signs of waging new informational campaigns to boost male draft registration compliance (prosecution as a method of compelling compliance proved ineffective and was abandoned in the 1980s). The informational campaigns could be a sign that SSS anticipates a surge in the non-compliance numbers if women are ordered to register.
It is possible that in 2021, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) will reintroduce his earlier bill to repeal the Selective Service law and shut down registration, but his effort to do so in 2020 garnered little support or attention in Congress.
President-elect Biden will soon be announcing his nominee to replace Trump’s Director of the Selective Service System. At that time, we may hear of Biden’s goals for the future of the agency. His nominee could be a woman, which might help minimize protest against the continuation and expansion of draft registration.
In spring, Congress may have hearings on recommendations from the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service, which spent two years studying whether to continue registration. The commission’s report favors its continuation and expansion to include women. Following such hearings, Congress could take up legislation to accomplish it, possibly by including it in the next defense authorization bill that will be taken up in mid-2021. The earliest that women could be ordered to begin registering would be January 2022, but a more practical timeline for the government would be January 2023.
The only way to stop this next step in the militarization of U.S. society is to organize and support large-scale expressions of opposition and resistance, especially with young women in the leadership. There isn’t much time left for such organizing to begin.
For more information visit: resisters.info.
This article is from Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (http://www.comdsd.org/index.php/draft-notices).
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