Female aircrew members from the 92nd Air Refueling Wing recreate WWII Women’s Airforce Service Pilot photos in honor of women’s history month, March 2017. (Katherine Miranda/92nd Air Refueling Wing)
WASHINGTON — For 25 years, between 1951 and 1976, women service members were involuntarily separated from the military due to motherhood, leaving without separation benefits, counseling or assistance.
In 2023, Congress recognized the injustice in its annual defense policy bill, acknowledging the harm it caused to women troops. Now, Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., is leading legislation that aims to make financial and symbolic amends.
The Women Involuntary Separated Earnings Remittance Act seeks to establish a process to upgrade military records and discharges for women who were wrongfully separated, provide a one-time payment of $25,000 to affected veterans and expand Department of Veterans Affairs health care eligibility to those veterans.
“The unfair practice of discharging women from the military because they became pregnant or became a mother was not only wrong, but it perpetuated a harmful cycle of gender prejudice,” said Brownley. “This bill corrects this wrong.”
It is unknown how many women were affected by Executive Order 10240, which President Harry Truman signed three years after Congress passed a law granting women the right to serve in the military in 1948.
The executive order called for the discharge of women service members who became pregnant, adopted a child, gained custody of a child or lived with a stepchild for more than 30 days per year.
In 1976, a court declared the order unconstitutional, and the policy was rescinded. However, the affected women were never offered recompense.
Brownley’s bill directs the secretaries of the VA and the Defense Department to establish a program that would dole out compensation to eligible veterans and upgrade their discharge status.
Eligible veterans include women who gave birth, obtained legal or physical custody of a child or adopted a child during a 10-month period beginning after the date the veteran was separated from active service.
Women who experienced an incomplete pregnancy due to an abortion or miscarriage during such a 10-month period are also eligible. The program covers women who served between April 27, 1951, and Feb. 23, 1976, as well as their surviving spouses.
Brownley said the legislation will restore justice and provide redress for an often-overlooked attack on women service members.
“This bill is a critical step forward in not only rectifying the impact of this discriminatory practice and restoring fairness for these women veterans, but it [also] brings true equity closer to the two million women who have served our nation in uniform,” she said.
