Should women be drafted? Congress may have to decide soon

Article here. Excerpt:

'A small advisory group called DACOWITS -- the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services -- makes regular reports on such issues directly to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, and has advised him to ask Congress to change the Military Selective Service Act to require women to register for the draft.

“I think [Congress] would either be faced with disbanding Selective Service and the requirement to register for the draft, or they would be required for women to sign up,” said Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee.

Coffman, a volunteer soldier who served alongside draftees in the Vietnam era, favors getting rid of the draft altogether and introduced legislation to do that earlier this year.

But others advocate opening the draft to both genders.

"Our male counterparts are thinking about the draft and its consequences from the ages of 16 or 17 on," said Kristen Kavanaugh of the Truman National Security Project. "What if by asking women to register for the Selective Service, we instill that same value early on and highlight their responsibility to our nation at a young age?"'