Good morning. The military personals committee will come to order. I want to welcome everyone to this hearing to discuss the challenges servicemembers that are facing accessing Reproductive Health care. The Supreme Court decision in dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health organization overturned 50 years of precedent and took away the established constitutional right to an abortion. The court stated that their opinion merely returned the issue of abortion to the states, and that women can vote for whom they wish to represent their values. But servicemembers do not get to choose where they live. This leaves 230,000 servicewomen who could be ordered to a state that restricts bodily autonomy, jeopardizing our recruitment and retention efforts. There is a map of that want to show you. This map shows the states that restrict abortion in red, along with a number of military installations within those states. As you can see, many military bases are in states where abortion is or likely will be restric
Ours alone to make. I think you for the opportunity to share my story. Thank you. Your testimony is extraordinary. You are precisely who we want to serve in the military. To have anyone snuff out that opportunity for a lack of providing services to our Service Members is repelling to me. Thank you for your testimony. Teresa is an active duty servicemember and is joining us by a zoom. Good morning chairwoman, Ranking Member and distinguished members of the sub committee. It is an honor to appear before you today to share my personal experience. I am a major in the United States air force. My comments today are my personal story and do not reflect the views of the department of defense, department of the air force, United States government or my unit. I entered the air force as an active duty enlisted member in 2002. Two weeks ago, i reached 20 years of service and i was selected for promotion to lt. Col. Im extremely proud of my military service, i am thankful for the opportunities it h