Ten pregnant servicewomen

sent home from Afghanistan war



Ten British servicewomen on operations in Afghanistan have been sent back to the UK in the past six months after becoming pregnant.

A number of the soldiers may have become pregnant after having relationships with their colleagues.

The cases raise the prospect of soldiers being investigated for breaching sexual conduct rules, the Ministry of Defence said last night.

Soldiers must adhere to a 'no-touching' rule.

Ten female soldiers have been sent home after falling pregnant

Those who abuse their position, or take advantage of a colleague who may be separated from their partner for a long period of time, are subject to disciplinary procedures which can include dismissal.

The pregnant Servicewomen were sent home between April 30 and October 31 this year under military rules which ban pregnant women from being on battle duty.



It was unclear last night how many, if any, of the women fell pregnant after being sent to war.

Some may have conceived before they went to the battle zone and only discovered they were pregnant having embarked on their tour of duty, the MoD said.

‘It is not an offence for a Servicewoman to be pregnant,’ an MoD source said last night.



‘But there is a code of conduct and it is to do with anything that would damage operational effectiveness.’



The source insisted it would be ‘difficult’ for Servicewomen to become pregnant in Afghanistan because very few troops had private bedrooms.

A spokesman added: ‘If women become or discover they are pregnant on operations, they are returned to the UK at the first opportunity.’

Former Army commander Lieutenant Colonel Robin Matthews told the Sunday Mirror: 'Together, both servicemen and women face an uncertain future and, as those bonds of war strengthen, inevitably relationships will develop.'



Women make up around nine per cent of the Armed Forces and some 80,000 troops have been sent to Afghanistan since the war began in 2001.