Vision Forum is trying to take the lead on exposing what the Bible describes as the “abomination” of women in the military. We are specifically urging pastors to bring messages to their congregations explaining that the Bible opposes such behavior, and urging Christians to both pray for and hold accountable through their voice, the President for his personal decision as Commander in Chief (and chief policy director for the military) to continue to allow women to enter theaters of war and be placed in harms way. If you have not done so yet, please read our article “Are They Coming to Draft Your Daughters.” Our thesis is this: Failure to take a principled stand at this critical juncture not only invokes judgment on our land, but it paves the way for step two, which is the conscription of your daughters in times of draft. Of course, the practical consequences of a coed military at war is staggering.

One issue reported by Vision Forum two weeks ago and confirmed this morning by the Washington Post is the rampant immorality among American troops in a coed combat and bunking environment leading to pregnancy. The Washington Post reports that despite the obvious problem, the military has been unwilling to officially track and release such information. Writing for the Post, columnist Rowan Scarborough writes:

As in the case of Pfc. England, pregnancies can be embarrassing to the military. In May 2003, the Marine Corps was forced to bring a Marine back home after she gave birth on a Navy warship in the Persian Gulf. She told superiors she did not know she was pregnant. During the 1991 Persian Gulf war, the press branded the destroyer tender USS Acadia the “Love Boat” after 36 sailors — 10 percent of the women aboard — became pregnant while deployed in support of Operation Desert Storm. Of British forces in southern Iraq, 82 women were sent home in 2003 after discovering they were pregnant, reported the London Daily Telegraph, which quoted government numbers.

Pregnancies can hamper readiness by creating hard-to-fill vacancies. A presidential commission in 1992 found that pregnancy was a main reason why the non-deployability rate for female troops was three times higher than for men during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf conflict.

The Post also quotes Retired Army Col. David Hackworth:

Hackworth who says he had been rebuffed in attempts to get information on troop pregnancies: “I’ve been getting serious stonewalling from the [public affairs] folks at the Pentagon,” the decorated Vietnam veteran and syndicated columnist wrote on his Web site. “They treat pregnancy stats with a higher security classification than the number of nukes in their arsenals.” Mr. Hackworth appealed directly to troops in service: “If you can get your hands on some hard stats for your unit, please send ‘em along.”

According to the Post, Elaine Donnaly, President of the Center for Military Readiness said she repeatedly asked the Pentagon to compile the statistics for the current war, but was rebuffed. She finally filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act in April... Mrs. Donnelly said, “It would not be in the interest of the Army to release those numbers because it might raise questions about having so many women in so many unprecedented positions.”

Stay tuned for more on this subject. Vision Forum plans to post the responses (and our responses to the responses) to our “Are They Coming To Draft Your Daughters” article.