WHAT IS THE CADET ACT OF 2021?

A long standing law affecting pregnant Academy students is about to change. Hopefully.

Previously, cadet women have been forced to either leave the Academy permanently, have an abortion, or give up their baby’s parental rights. All those options are torturous. The only other way for most cadets/mids was to give up their parental rights temporarily until graduation, at which point they incur legal fees to get their baby back. But its usually not that simple, and there are horror stories out there from Academy grads now speaking out about this backwards law.

Sen Cruz and Sen Gillibrand co-authored a bipartisan bill, The CADET Act of 2021, that is summarized nicely by Defense One: “The bill would allow women who get pregnant to take a year off from the academy to carry the child, give birth, and recover postpartum. They would return to the academy and graduate a year later than originally expected. They would not have to sign away their parental rights, but they would have to appoint someone to be the child’s guardian while they finish school, including giving that person full power of attorney, similar to the family care plans that single parents in the military must create when deployed,” Kuzminski said. “Once the student graduates, they would be able to take over parental responsibilities.”

Source: https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2021/07/pregnant-cadets-midshipmen-must-give-their-child-or-their-career-two-senators-want-change/183973/