Two Important Steps for Women The first provision would end an injustice to women who serve in America's military. Offered by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, it would lift the statutory ban that denies female service members coverage for abortions in cases of rape and incest. Under current law, military health plans pay for abortions only when a pregnancy endangers a woman's life. The change should not be controversial, given the serious problem of sexual assault among service members. All it would do, essentially, is give military women the same coverage now afforded civilians who work for the federal government, rely on Medicaid or women who are raped while serving time in prison. The provision was supported by Senator John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, when the committee approved it earlier this year. His insistence that it remain in the final bill will be critical to ensuring that sexual assault victims in the military be treated with fairness. But the determination of Republican members of the House to block abortion services should not be underestimated. The other provision offers hope for the Afghan women who fear they will be even more vulnerable to harsh customs and the men who impose them after American troops withdraw from Afghanistan. Women's rights have made modest gains in the past decade as more women attended school, received better health care and were allowed to move about their communities more freely. But these advances could be eroded without continued support from Afghan and American leaders. A valuable amendment to the Senate bill sponsored by Senators Bob Casey, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican of Texas, and championed by Amnesty International, would require the Pentagon to develop a strategy to protect these gains and promote security for women as troops are withdrawn. There is no good reason to drop this provision, which calls for the collection of data on women's security and using that data in decisions about transferring areas of the country from American to Afghan control. It also calls for training Afghan security forces on women's rights, holding forces accountable for violations, recruiting more women for the Army and police and providing semiannual status reports to Congress.