A young Washington state man has sued the U.S. government because the draft registration form has no place to show conscientious objector status. Tobin Jacobrown, 21, of Indianola, a practicing Quaker, is being represented by the ACLU in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in the District of Columbia, The Washington Post reported.

Jacobrown says U.S. law requires the Selective Service System to recognize those who object to war or military service on religious or moral grounds. The military drft was abolished in 1973, but young men are still required to register in case Congress brings it back. Jacobrown said he refused to fill out the forms. That means he cannot get a job with the U.S. government or receive federal student aid.

The above excerpt was take n from Vol 66, No 2 of The Center on Conscience & War's publication, "The Reporter for Conscience' sake and was also reported here: Washington Post

In the absence of a place to mark "conscientious objector" on the selective service form, young men might consider writing "I am a conscientious objector" on the form and photographing themselves with the form in hand along with the front page of the day's newspaper prior to sending it in. This might serve as documentation of CO status in the event that the draft is initiated. Of course, there's always the option of refusing to send the form in -- if you don't need or care about a government job or a student loan. Very few young men have been fined for refusing to turn in the form.

Center for Conscience and War

www.centeronconscience.org/

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Thanks for posting this, Erin. 

I'd like to add that many soldiers have made their consciencious objections very clear to the military, stating plainly that they now understand that ANY form of killing of another human being is morally wrong and reprehensible- yet have not been given consciencious objector status.  To me, this waves a big red flag if you are against all killing of human beings, about signing up with Selective Services.  It could very well mean entrapment- until a law suit like the one you mentioned above goes through and wins in the court system. 

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