News

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT), James Lankford (R-OK), Steve Daines (R-MT), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a resolution expressing that the Senate should not pass legislation mandating the registration of women for the Selective Service System.
 
Earlier this summer, during the markup of the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate Committee on Armed Services included a provision that would require women to register for the draft.
 
The draft, in its rare instances of use, primarily serves as a pipeline to replace combat forces. However, data from the U.S. Marine Corps demonstrates that injury rates in combat roles are significantly higher for women over men. The Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force found that musculoskeletal injuries were twice as high for women; and research conducted at the Infantry Training Battalion demonstrated an injury rate for enlisted women six times higher than the rate for men.
 
Additionally, the level of physical fitness required for combat roles are only achievable for a small percentage of women. Data from the Army’s gender-neutral Combat Fitness Test reveal a fail rate ranging between 65 percent to 85 percent for women, compared to 10 percent to 30 percent for men.
 
The full text of the resolution can be found here.