“If this bill had passed, the stage would have been set for women to have to be part of the military”
When the United States abolished its military draft 50 years ago this month, it simply stopped calling up conscripts, never bothering to permanently end it. But to maintain the ability to reinstate the draft in the event of a national emergency, the US armed forces still require all 18-year-old men to register with the Selective Service system.
That requirement is limited to men — women have never been required to register. But with the blurring of the genders slowly infiltrating society, a bipartisan majority of lawmakers have been pushing to expand the requirement to females as well. For the second year in a row, the House and Senate voted to include the provision in the mammoth Pentagon budget. But Agudath Israel’s Washington representative, Rabbi Abba Cohen, has been a pivotal voice in pulling together a coalition to prevent it.
“It could very well have been passed and enacted,” Rabbi Cohen said. “It was a very distinct — maybe even more than a distinct — possibility. We basically dodged a bullet.”
Just days before the record $858 billion defense bill was signed by President Biden last week, it contained language that would have forced women to register if a draft were reinstated. This raised concerns among Jewish groups and community leaders as to where that could have potentially led. On guard because the same thing had happened the year before, Rabbi Cohen invested months of work, advocating and pigeonholing lawmakers, until it was taken out.
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