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Bill of Rights for Women Veterans Passes House

On November 30, the House passed, by voice vote, H.R. 5953, a bill to direct the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to display in each VA facility a Women Veterans Bill of Rights. Before passage, the bill was amended to require the display of a bill of rights for injured and amputee veterans.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) would enumerate the rights of women veterans, including their rights pertaining to medical care, military sexual trauma, disabilities, employment, federal contracting, housing, and burials. Specifically, the Bill of Rights includes, among other provisions:

  • The right to coordinated, comprehensive, primary women’s health care at every [VA] medical facility, including the recognized models of best practices, systems, and structures for care delivery that ensure that every woman veteran has access to a [VA] primary care provider who can meet all her primary care needs, including gender-specific, acute and chronic illness, preventive, and mental health care;
  • The right to request and expect gender equity in the provision of clinical health care services;
  • The right to equal consideration in hiring and employment for any job to which they apply;
  • The right to equal consideration in securing federal contracts;
  • The right to equal access and accommodations in homeless programs that will meet their unique family needs;
  • The right to have their military sexual trauma and other injuries compensated in a way that reflects the level of trauma sustained;
  • The right to expect specialized training be provided to disability rating personnel regarding military sexual trauma and gender-specific illnesses so that these claims can be adjudicated more accurately; and
  • The right to burial benefits under the laws administered by the secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Speaking on behalf of the measure, Rep. Filner said, “Through hearings and roundtable discussions that we have held during this year, women veterans have come forward to share their personal stories. From their accounts, it is clear that while the VA has made some strides in caring for women veterans, significant gaps remain. The veterans testifying before the committee have shared stories of feeling unwelcomed, alienated, and disrespected in some of our VA medical centers so that they are now reluctant to pursue the benefits and services that they have earned with service to their country. We have heard about women veterans walking into the lobby of a medical center and having catcalls come from all corners of that lobby. We have heard that a woman who had her arm amputated from battle in Fallujah, when she appeared before a doctor at her VA, the doctor thought she had cancer. He couldn’t imagine her as having lost an arm due to combat conditions. We have had single women who have had to bring their children because they could not get child care, and doctors refusing to see them. We have got to change this institution to meet the needs, the real needs, of the women veterans of our nation.”