THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070494
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Navy Secretary John Dalton on Monday ordered more ``family planning information'' for sailors and Marines in hopes they can be gently persuaded to start families later in their careers while on shore duty - and not earlier while at sea.
Dalton rejected stricter measures advocated by some military officers, who worry that as women fill jobs on warships once closed to them, the number of pregnancies at sea will rise and undercut military readiness. The Navy announced last week that five pregnant sailors had been removed from the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first U.S. warship to set to sea with women as part of the permanent 5,000-person crew.
So emotionally charged and politically volatile is the issue that Navy and Marine Corps officials took a year to formulate the instructions. ``It has taken longer to produce this policy than an actual baby,'' an aide to Dalton said.
Tough proposals supported by some officers included mandatory pregnancy tests before going to sea and disciplinary action against women who become pregnant on sea duty. Instead, the new policy says the Navy Department ``recognizes that pregnancy is a natural event that can occur in the lives of Navy and Marine Corps servicewomen, and is not a presumption of medical incapacity.''
It also declares, ``Pregnancy and parenthood are compatible with a naval career.''
But the policy adds, ``Pregnancy could affect a command's operational readiness by temporarily limiting a servicewoman's ability and availability to perform all assigned tasks'' and thus must be subject to certain institutional rules.
The policy declares that ``appropriate and thorough family planning information will be made available'' to ``encourage our men and women in making family planning decisions that are supportive of both their naval service and their parental responsibilities.''
Another aim of the new regulations is to create a more favorable climate for active-duty women who become pregnant by granting them priority medical care and entitling them to housing allowances to subsidize the cost of off-base housing.
The four-page document signed by Dalton represents an effort to provide departmentwide guidance on pregnancy for the first time after last year's decision to open combat jobs aboard ships and in naval aviation squadrons to women.
KEYWORDS: NAVY FAMILY PLANNING by CNB