As Congress inches towards passing the annual defence bill, leaders of the US Bishops’ Conference are urging the Senate to remove a provision that would require women to add their names to the national registry if there is ever another military draft in the United States.

The bishops also urged Congress to overturn a recent Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ruling on abortion, and to add provisions to the defence bill in relation to Afghan parolees in the US seeking citizenship.

“The USCCB has long held that the practice of making military service an option for women, but not an obligation, has served us well in society,” three chairmen of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) wrote in a 4 December letter to Congressional leaders.