Emergency Contraception and Women in the Military

As many of you are likely aware by now, given the media coverage in the Associated Press and the Washington Post, an independent committee at the Department of Defense (DOD) recently added emergency contraception (EC) to the list of medications made available to servicemembers overseas. Approximately 350,000 women serve in the military or depend on military facilities for their health care abroad, so this decision couldn't have come any sooner.

That's good news, right? The vast majority of Americans would agree, but some people took the opportunity to further expose their extreme views. Who, you ask? Focus on the Family and Concerned Women for America. These two anti-choice organizations are very critical of this action, and have denounced it with all the hysteria and hypocrisy we've come to expect. Concerned Women for America's Wendy Wright said:

... The military should be focusing on "discipline and proper behavior - because lives depend on it - not promoting risky behavior," as reported by LifeSiteNews.com.

Jeanne Monahan, director of Family Research Council's Center for Human Dignity commented:

"In the last year we have witnessed the Obama Administration move from the status quo of abortion as legal and available in health care plans to aggressively promoting U.S. government funded abortions."

And

"It can prevent the embryo from implanting and therefore destroy a human life..."

That's just plain absurd, but still - Monahan went on to claim, "We can all agree that there is a huge difference between preventing and destroying human life. And women in uniform deserve to know the truth about their medications."

Well, I agree with Monahan's latter statement - Women do deserve to know the truth about their medications... and the truth is that EC is simply a concentrated dose of ordinary birth-control pills that can significantly reduce a woman's chance of becoming pregnant if taken soon after sex. EC does not cause abortion (PDF); rather it is a safe and effective way to prevent pregnancy. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter sales for adults in August 2006.

We know one vet that will agree with the independent Pentagon panel's decision, and that's Kayla Williams. Kayla is a friend of NARAL Pro-Choice America and is a former sergeant and Arabic linguist in a Military Intelligence company of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). During her year in Iraq, Kayla spent her time at the forefront of U.S. interactions with Iraqis, while simultaneously navigating the challenges that come with being part of the 15 percent of the Army that is female.

In a blog post for VetVoice - the online home of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans - Kayla blogged about sex in the military and her support for the Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act:

Women in the military may not like to talk about it, since many of us are still fighting to prove that we belong in the military and do our jobs well. Quite frankly, I don't want to talk about sex in a war zone - I want to talk about how women are proving ourselves not only competent but indispensable in counterinsurgency.

But the reality is that humans do have sex. The Army even lets married soldiers live together in Iraq. Condoms are sold at the PX. And - tragically - nonconsensual sex happens too; the DoD reports that reports of sexual assaults are on the rise, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Go Kayla! - and thank you for your service.

One final note: In an editorial, The New York Times agreed with Kayla and applauded the Pentagon panel's decision and even went a step further, calling for an end to the anti-choice policy that prohibits servicewomen's access to abortion, even when they use their own money:

Next, Pentagon officials and members of Congress need to address the callous treatment of servicewomen with regard to abortion. Under current rules, military doctors may perform abortions only in cases of rape, incest or when the women's lives are endangered. And even in cases of rape and incest, the women must pay. It is outrageous that politics is allowed to interfere with the health care decisions of women who wear the nation's uniform.

Be sure to read the entire column and share it with your friends and family.