The Editors of National Review have weighed in on women registering for the draft: "Only a Barbaric Nation Drafts Its Mothers and Daughters into Combat."
Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie came out in favor of requiring women to register with Selective Service. Ted Cruz called the idea "nuts."
The idea that women should register for the draft is based on the recent order from Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter opening front-line fighting positions to women.
The Editors write:
We have repeatedly condemned the Obama administration’s decision to open all combat roles to women, and we have mainly done so by citing a combination of contemporary studies and historical experience to make the case that gender-integrated ground-combat units are less effective than their all-male counterparts. But that is not the only argument. Indeed, there are other fundamental reasons to oppose not just the presence of women in the infantry but their forcible conscription into its ranks. Such a policy inverts natural law and the rules that have grounded our civilization for thousands of years.
Men should protect women. They should not shelter behind mothers and daughters. Indeed, we see this reality every time there is a mass shooting. Boyfriends throw themselves over girlfriends, and even strangers and acquaintances often give themselves up to save the woman closest to them. Who can forget the story of 45-year-old Shannon Johnson wrapping his arms around 27-year-old Denise Peraza and declaring “I got you” before falling to the San Bernardino shooters’ bullets?
Ground combat is barbaric. Even today, men grapple with men, killing each other with anything they can find. Returning veterans describe countless incidents of hand-to-hand combat with jihadists. . . .
I urge you to read the entire editorial.