NPR

The abortion ruling has troops and veterans speaking out, some for the first time

From abortion and the right to marry to voting rights and racial inequality, some of America's service members and veterans are concerned their Constitutional rights are under attack.
Marine Capt. Meleah Martin performing preflight inspections on her F-18 aircraft. Martin is concerned not just about her right to get an abortion, but the threat of not being able to marry the woman she loves one day.

For the first time in her life, Marine Corps Capt. Meleah Martin is refusing to wear American flag attire this Independence Day. Instead, she told her family that she will only wear pride colors and apparel. Not because she's unpatriotic – she's spent approximately 16 months deployed overseas as an F-18 pilot. But because she believes her constitutional rights are under attack.

Martin said it's been disheartening to witness liberties such as the right to protest or to cast a ballot come under attack in recent years. Those frustrations turned to devastation for her with the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, stripping away the constitutional right to an abortion. Martin hopes to someday start a family, but as someone who identifies as a lesbian, she's scared her right to marry and have children may also be in danger.

As a result of these fears and frustrations, she said she doesn't look at the American flag the way she used to.

"We swear an oath, 'To support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic' ... Well, it's

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