The language was included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the argument being that "we need everybody" in the event of another war. Other legislators viewed it as a way of promoting equality. Still, House members including Vicky Hartzler (R-Missouri) fought against forcing women to sign up for the draft.
"I'm very, very pleased that we were above to remove the provision that would have required all of our daughters and sisters and women to have to start registering for the draft," Hartzler told the Washington Watch with Tony Perkins program. "This drafting women provision was just unnecessary [because] we have an all-volunteer force now that is serving our country very, very well."
According to Hartzler, 17% of U.S. military service members are women who have "stepped up and voluntarily served."
"Supporters wanted to insert this [language] because of so-called equality, to prove that women are equal – [and] that's just silly. It's ridiculous," said Hartzler. "Women are equal now, certainly in the sight of God; and they contribute in every way to American life. So, we don't have to start drafting our daughters in order to prove equality … and I'm glad that cooler heads prevailed."
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), another opponent of requiring women to sign up for the draft, said this was "bad policy" from the start.
"I said I was going to force a vote on this and we're going to put people on record," Hawley told the "Washington Watch" program. "[I felt] they should have to explain why it is that they want to carry out the largest expansion of the draft in American history and focus it entirely on women – at a time, by the way, when we're also seeing historic numbers of sexual assaults in the military … and Democrats want to force more women to enter the military against their will."
According to Hawley, the language was dropped because Democrats didn't want to cast a vote that would have required daughters, wives, and sisters – some still in their teens – to register for the draft to fight America's wars.
With this issue now out of the way, Hartzler said legislators can focus on what she calls the real concerns – those being Russia, China, Kim Jong-Un, and terrorist threats.
