Several articles in the past few days have discussed a new military policy that is causing quite a stir--the inclusion of pregnancy on the list of prohibitions for personnel. This essentially means that if a member of the military becomes pregnant or impregnates a woman, he or she is subject to punishment, including a court-martial and jail time. Although Major General Anthony Cucolo indicated that this was a very unlikely scenario (in fact, he said that he has never considered court-martialing or jailing someone related to pregnancy), pregnancy was added to the list of prohibitions to "underline the seriousness of the issue."
Although the army might have many different reasons for considering pregnancy to be serious, not the least of which is the reduction in deployed staff, the Major General's actions nevertheless underscore the notion that a pregnancy is a serious and important event. While the Major General does emphasize the importance of pregnancy planning, it it essential that the military also provide education and services to help military personnel avoid unplanned pregnancies.
There is at least one program that was developed by the Navy called the Sexual Health and Responsibility Program (SHARP). This program strives to decrease both Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancy. Given that there are approximately 1.6 million people on active military duty combined with an additional 1.4 million in the seven reserve components and the fact that approximately 60% are between the ages of 18 and 30, unplanned pregnancy is clearly an issue the military can and should address.
Our recent survey suggests that many young adults' have conflicted attitudes towards pregnancy and young adults in the military are probably no exception to this finding. Perhaps instead of punishing those who experience an unplanned pregnancy, more can be done to help prevent one (along with STIs) in the first place.
What do you think?
I think this policy may actually help younger adults realize that unplanned pregnancy is not something "that just happens". Our military needs to assist in getting the message out that fertility is a responsibility. I support educating our military service personnel and equipping them so that they may continue in service to the United States. I was blown away by the numbers in the Fog Zone report. We really need to attack this issue head on.
.., this is really interesting to read.. i must say that this is one of the issues that is political that goes with unplanned pregnancy...
Get pregnant