A Primer on the Unique Challenges of Female Soldiers' Reproductive Issues in a War-Ready Culture

Abstract

In 1951, a U.S. Presidential Executive Order outlined regulations governing the involuntary separation of women from military service in the event of pregnancy, parenting, or giving live birth while on commissioned service. Subsequent public law and court decisions have changed the rules on female soldier pregnancy and parenting. Initially capped at 2%, maximum allowable percentage of the military, female soldiers now comprise over 14% of the U.S. active duty military, numbering over 200,000. The issues of sexuality, family planning, pregnancy, breast feeding, and family care are unique in this population and affect soldier readiness and deployment planning. Many of these challenges are amenable to physician intervention and guidance to ameliorate the barriers to service. Both clinicians and policy makers should be attentive to advancing a system that affords equal opportunity and optimizes health for all service members.

Healthcare for servicewomen on military missions

“…They act as nurses, signalman, helmsman and so on. In comparison, previous data reported that women accounted for 10.5% of the service personnel on aircraft carriers of US Navy by the end of 1995 3…”

Australian Veterans of the Middle East Conflicts 2001–2010: Select Reproductive Health Outcomes Part 1 — Maternal and Paternal Outcomes

“…A female soldier's reproductive ability and family planning affects soldier readiness and deployment planning (Fitzgerald et al, 2013). Women who have served in recent conflicts are primarily of reproductive age; thus, reproductive health disorders, such as sexually transmitted infections, menstrual disorders, and infertility, and their association with combat-related mental health disorders, are particularly important areas to investigate.…”

Advocating for Deployed Women Veterans' Health Differences, Difficulties, and Disparities

“…Obviously, this was also an attempt to avoid further outcomes stemming from any unintended pregnancies and/or testing military abortion restrictions (Holt, Grindlay, Taskier, & Grossman, ; Manski, Grindlay, Burns, Holt, & Grossman, ). For 2 months in 2009, pregnancy was one reason leading to an initiation of court‐martial proceedings (Fitzgerald et al., ). While this order was quickly rescinded, it still provided an informal threat and sometimes produced outcomes of self‐ or peer‐inflicted abortions, especially if the pregnancy followed MST and/or the danger of an out‐of‐combat‐zone medical evacuation (ACOG, ; Cohen et al., ; Grindlay et al., ; Holt et al., ; Jacobson & Jensen, ; Lindberg, ; Polomano & Stringer, ).…”

“…During the GWOT, between 39% and 77% of women used contraceptives, yet the scientific data on their use remain limited. These medications, including emergency contraceptives, were supposed to be available, although there were multiple problems primarily with privacy and accessibility difficulties (Fitzgerald et al, 2013;Holt et al, 2011;Manski, Grindlay, Burns, Holt, Grossman, 2014).…”