The Architects of the Woke U.S. Military: Service Women’s Action Network

The Architects of the Woke U.S. Military (full series)
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Vets for the People | Service Women’s Action Network

Service Women’s Action Network

The Biden Defense Department’s policy of paying for military women to travel to other states to have an abortion became the subject of a hotly contested fight over more than 300 military promotions in 2023.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) blocked a mass vote on the military promotions until the Pentagon dropped the new abortion policy—although he didn’t prevent individual votes.

Among the key champions for the Pentagon’s abortion policy was the Service Women’s Action Network.

The organization takes more mainstream positions as well, such as calling for tougher rules to stop sexual assault in the military, as well as advocating equal pay. But the group has made abortion part of the mix, as well as demanding women be allowed to serve in combat roles. It claims to be the voice of 350,000 service women and 2 million female veterans in the United States.

The SWAN website says:

Our efforts include opening all military jobs to service women, expanding access to services for a broad range of reproductive healthcare services, working to hold sex offenders accountable in the military justice system and eliminating barriers to disability claims for those who have experienced military sexual trauma. But our work is not done.

The Service Women’s Action Network argued, “Abortion is a human right. Congress and the administration must fulfill their obligation to make that right a reality for servicemembers, veterans and their dependents.” Credit: C-SPAN. License: https://bit.ly/477QAYG.

SWAN published an issue brief in 2023 calling for Congress and the president to greatly expand abortion at military and VA facilities, going well beyond what even the Biden administration authorized: “Congress must repeal the prohibition on the use of military bases for abortion and the ban on use of military funds for abortion care.” SWAN argued, “Abortion is a human right. Congress and the administration must fulfill their obligation to make that right a reality for servicemembers, veterans and their dependents.”

The brief recommended:

Servicemembers should be permitted to access abortion on base, with appropriate privacy protections and without consulting their superiors.

The administration must rescind regulations prohibiting abortion care within VHA [Veterans Health Administration] facilities. VHA must provide access to and coverage for abortion services as it does with other pregnancy-related care.

In 2012, SWAN sued the Defense Department over the policy of excluding women from military combat. A friendly Obama administration eliminated the policy in 2013, and by 2016, women began joining combat units.

The most recent financial information on the organization shows that in 2021, SWAN received $314,566 in revenue, made $243,160 in expenditures, and had assets of $419,527.

Veterans for American Ideals

Veterans for American Ideals describes itself as a coalition of veterans advocating for human rights at home and abroad. It is affiliated with the left-of-center group Human Rights First, which calls for the United States soften its immigration policies to accept more refugees.

Veterans for American Ideas also calls for “police demilitarization,” demilitarizing border enforcement and addresses “domestic political extremism.” The group also says it is battling online hate speech and bigotry.

“In response to the January 6th insurrection, VFAI has addressed the challenge of extremism by helping build civil society’s capacity to confront and roll back violent extremist movements in the United States,” the organization says.

The Left’s Long March

The Left began its long march through institutions in the early 20th century and gained a complete stranglehold over education and the media. In recent years, wokeism has deeply infiltrated sports and organized religion.

For a long time, the military and business were the last institutions not captured by the Left, or so we thought. More recently, the Left has gained—if not a stranglehold—a vice grip on the corporate world.

Militant wokeism is seeking a conquest of the U.S. military, and it has plenty of private-sector assistance backing up that battleplan.

This article was published in the January 2024 issue of Capital Research magazine.