ACLU Sues US for Barring Its Women in Combat; Says Women Barred from 238,000 Mil. Positions

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today (November 27, 2012) sued on behalf of four U.S. servicewomen to challenge a longstanding policy barring women from thousands of ground combat positions, citing the changing nature of warfare and fairness for career soldiers, according to the Christian Science Monitor website.

The ACLU argued in a legal complaint filed in federal court in Northern California that a military policy to bar women from combat roles on the basis of gender was unconstitutional.

"Nearly a century after women earned the right of suffrage, the combat exclusion policy still denies women a core component of full citizenship -- serving on equal footing in the military defense of our nation," reads the suit, on behalf of four women soldiers who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Women are not allowed in infantry -- or in smaller units engaged in combat -- and are barred from more than 238,000 positions, the ACLU said. But in Iraq and Afghanistan -- where there are no clear battle lines -- women have been pulled into combat in spite of the policy, the civil rights group added.