Penny Young Nance Archives – Concerned Women for America

For Immediate Release
November 26, 2021

Contact: Katie Everett, Press Secretary
[email protected]

Senate Dems Want to Sacrifice Our Daughters on the Altar of Political Correctness

Washington D.C. – Upon return from the Thanksgiving holiday, the U.S. Senate will consider the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), including a provision requiring young women to register with the Selective Service for a potential military draft. The U.S. House of Representatives passed its own version of the annual defense bill with a similar provision in September. The House version also includes funds for CRT training, diversity officers, and inclusion and equity programs.

This monumental, unjustified reversal in policy forces our military to be sex-blind in all selection, training, and service of draftees, erasing key biological differences between males and females that have everything to do with readiness in wartime. Further, the provision gives the federal government blanket discretion to institute a draft for any number of unspecified reasons.

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, had this to say:

“The recent role that woke ideology played in the Virginia election should have been a wakeup call for Congress. Instead, current language in the funding bill for America’s military and military academies contains the same ideology soundly rejected across the nation. CRT funding and woke diversity officers are part of the Left’s effort to deconstruct the U.S. military and our academies. Add to the mix language forcing women to register for Selective Service (i.e. the draft) and language specifically prohibiting military leaders for making decisions based on sex is disastrous policy that will cost lives.

“Concerned Women for America admires and supports the strong, patriotic women who volunteer for military service, but we refuse to believe the destructive lie that women’s equality means sameness with men. American women do not need to be conscripted to fight on the frontline of war to prove their worth.

“Even after a three-year, $45 million taxpayer funded commission’s unsubstantiated recommendation, a 2021 Ipsos poll shows that support for drafting women has nosedived—especially among females—since the issues was last debated in 2016, with only 45% of Americans and a third of women in favor of the policy.

“We are also witnessing growing enthusiasm from both parties to repeal the Selective Service altogether. At a time of such deep division, we rarely see this harmony. This makes any call to expand this outdated agency’s purpose and reach even more tone-deaf.

“Fresh off the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and a terror attack that took the lives of 13 U.S. servicemembers, Americans are rightfully weary to award new mobilization powers to the government. Trusting this Administration—or any other—with the unchecked latitude to declare a national emergency and conscript 18- to 25-year-old women for any number of purposes is too great a risk.

“Sacrificing our young women on the altar of political correctness is a clear dealbreaker, but the potential inclusion of race-driven, divisive ideological agendas gives further reason to oppose the bill in its current form. Sadly, the House-passed version of the NDAA diverts from mission-critical defense objectives to fund this nonsense. The Senate must say no.

“We reject the shameful fallacy that Congress must rubber stamp the social experimentation of our military to secure critical funding for our troops and national defense. An NDAA that drafts our daughters and granddaughters is a non-starter, and we call on members of courage to oppose its advancement.”

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Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization with a rich history of over 40 years.