Draft

• Even without the 28th Amendment, the draft could inlcude women.

• The Military Selective Service Act, only authorizes the registration of “male persons”. In order for the Selective Service to be authorized to register women, Congress would have to pass legislation amending the current law. (source, Selective Service System)

• We believe that if a draft of America’s best and brightest were necessary during a national emergency, it would (of course) include women.

• In recent years, military, legislative, and judicial leadership have signaled a single sex Selective Service registration may not be practicable:
  • In 2016, the same year women were allowed to serve in every military role (including ground combat), the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would have required women to register for Selective Service with support from late Senator John McCain, who explained that women already serve with great distinction in all aspects of our Armed Forces. (source, CRS)
  • In October 2017, the Pentagon recommended that women should register with the selective service. (source, The Hill) 
  • In February of 2019, a federal judge in Texas ruled that single sex draft registration is unconstitutional. (source, NPR) However, this ruling was overturned by the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court declined to take up the case. For now, a single sex draft registry stands.
  • In 2020, The National Commission on Military, National and Public Service released its final report which it affirmed that registration remains a civic duty and should continue. It also recommended that registration be expanded to include women.  However, the law would first have to be changed should Congress decide to adopt any of the Commission’s recommendations pertaining to Selective Service. (source, Selective Service System)
    

Fun fact! Women have always been eligible to be drafted and were nearly drafted as nurses in the last couple of days of WWII (source, HistoryNet).