US Army general makes pregnancy a court martialable offence

December 21, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News, Pregnancy

A US Army general has added pregnancy as a court martialable offence, regardless of gender.

In an attempt to keep as many key personnel in the theater of combat, U.S. Army Major General Anthony Cucolo has updated military policy, allowing for the possibility of court martial and jail time for any American soldier in northern Iraq that becomes pregnant or impregnates someone.

Military newspaper Stars & Stripes reported on Monday that the new policy went into effect on November 4 and was approved by military lawyers.

“You have to assume it’s in response to a number of incidents that have caused female GIs to be sidelined at a time when they can’t be spared,” Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, told Stars & Stripes.

Major General Cucolo defended his decision, telling the BBC that for him, it was a “black and white” issue.

“I’ve got a mission to do. I’m given a finite number of soldiers with which to do it, and I need every one of them. So I’m going to take every measure I can to keep them all strong, fit and with me for the twelve months we are in the combat zone,” he told the BBC.

An Army spokesman elaborated, telling the Daily Mail, “When a soldier becomes pregnant or causes a soldier to become pregnant through consensual activity, the redeployment of the pregnant soldier creates a void in the unit and has a negative impact on the unit’s ability to accomplish its mission. Another soldier must assume the pregnant soldier’s responsibilities.”

Major General Cucolo’s policy states that soldiers can not spend the night with someone of the opposite sex unless given special permission. In addition the policy prohibits “sexual contact of any kind” with Iraqi nationals.

Colonel David S. Thompson, the Army’s inspector general in Iraq, told Stars and Stripes that no one has been accused under the new policy, one that he recalled as a “first” in the military.