# Single mother rejected by Air Force - claims they're encouraging abortion **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 25, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834 "2012-10-25T15:38:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/41 "2012-10-26T22:05:56Z")
Dishonorable Discharge and Bad Conduct Dicharge can only be issued as part of a sentence from a Court-martial. The other categories of discharge are issued based on the character of service, which is determined using a matrix found in the regulation governing separation from service. It doesn’t matter how much the CO likes you or hates you, the character of serrvice is easily and objectively determined. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/42 "2012-10-26T22:53:58Z")
So, deployment aside, wouldn’t she have to move around while in the Air Force? Couldn’t she be stationed in another state? It says the child’s father would help take care of it while she is away, so he’s obviously active in the child’s life. If the other parent is active and puts up a fight, you can’t move the child away from them. So if she were stationed anywhere away from the father, she would have to leave the child behind, and dad outranks grandparents so he could easily gain custody if he wanted. I don’t think she has thought this whole thing through. It sounds simple to say “the father and grandparents would take care of Jr during deployment,” but I’m not sure it’s quite that simple. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/43 "2012-10-26T23:18:08Z")
More than 50% of children born to women under 30 are born into unmarried households. 27% of all children in the US are being raised by single parents. Single parents are a normal family, and it makes no sense to exclude people with normal families from enlisting, Surely we have enough creativity left in us to find a way to make it work. We aren’t that hide-bound. That said, I agree it’s important for the child to be taken care of in case of deployment. There has got to be some way to legally ensure the child will be cared for in that situation without having to sign over all parental rights for the entire duration of service. Again, we are smart and creative people. We should be able to figure this one out. I agree the abortion argument is ridiculous, but it i also worth examining these questions once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/44 "2012-10-27T00:44:44Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > But I do pity the Officer that she reports to. After this, there won’t be a rule or regulation that she’ll think applies to her. I don’t think that’s fair. It’s not like she’s trying to weasel out of her obligation. She apparently takes it quite seriously and believes she has the support network to make things work. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/45 "2012-10-27T01:22:12Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I would think the cadet in the OP was never able to join/start - and is therefore on the hook for the cost of the education - since they are trying to spin it to “forced abortion” - it also sounds like she is/was actively pregnant at the tie she was due to start. > > You get administratively discharged if you fall out during basic/initial stuff - its only after you get past that that the other types of discharges would come into play. As I understand from the article, she found out she was pregnant shortly before graduation/commissioning, and kept a lid on it until some time after being sworn in. Part of USAF’s objection is that her scholarship-for-service contract made her responsible for informing the service in a timely manner of any issue that would arise that could adversely affect compliance with the terms. ISTM from the article that had she been forthcoming about it they would have placed her in some sort of “medical hold” until the child were born and she were to either (a) marry (b) provide for the child by transferring custody, and then she’d be reevaluated. Not like the only choices were abort or give up for adoption NOW or else. And it also seems like had she become pregnant a couple of months \ ***after** \*arriving at her first post the command would have dealt with it differently. Maybe unfair from our POV but you have to name a cutoff. The military services are not a civil service employer, the officers and enlistees are not civil service employees, ROTC is not a workforce development scholarship program; there is no mandate or entitlement to “make accommodation”, specially for something that’s a consequence of your own choices(\*). Sometimes someone gets burned over observance of the letter of the law to drive home the point with others. (\*BTW the report seems to make Mr. Babydaddy disappear, since he doesn’t get mentioned save for one line about himself knowing of the situation…) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/46 "2012-10-27T15:28:22Z")
If the Air Force wanted her to have a baby, they would have issued her one. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/47 "2012-10-31T17:26:06Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I don’t think that’s fair. It’s not like she’s trying to weasel out of her obligation. She apparently takes it quite seriously and believes she has the support network to make things work. IMHO as a Naval Officer for 26 years, those who think the rules apply to everyone but themselves don’t do well in the military. And if you enter the service by lawyering up, you are trying to show just how special you are. All I can say is I wouldn’t want her anywhere near my command where she’d be expected to be a team player. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/48 "2012-10-31T17:28:35Z")
I had a friend at university who was sponsored by the RAF who had to pay them back because he got too fat. Was the RAF discriminating against yorkshiremen whose moral beliefs included drinking excessively? ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/49 "2012-10-31T18:15:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Single parents are a normal family, and it makes no sense to exclude people with normal families from enlisting Military service is not a normal job, and normal people need not apply. The entire point of being in a profession, and the profession of a military officer in particular, is that you are held to a different standard than the “normal” segment of the population. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834/50 "2012-10-31T18:57:36Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > If the Air Force wanted her to have a baby, they would have issued her one. OK, that’s hysterical. My brother’s an enlisted M.Sgt in the Air Force, and this whole story boils my blood. It infuriates me that this woman is trying to besmirch the USAF, and the US military in general, because she doesn’t want to take responsibility for her own lies of omission. She knew the policies, she knew the consequences, and she went ahead and lied anyway. (Perhaps I should say that I flatly disagree with her assertion that she didn’t know about the policy until it was too late. She knew.) That policy exists for a reason. And has been noted (but conveniently omitted from the article), it’s not necessarily a ban on single parents serving. There are mechanisms by which single parents may serve, no matter how odious or distasteful those parents might find them. If she’s got such a good support network and is singlemindedly set on serving in the US Air Force, why didn’t she avail herself of those mechanisms? This has nothing to do with abortion or single parents in the military, and everything do to with a liar still trying to avoid responsibility for her actions. And it just makes the jobs of those serving in the military harder. Edmonds should be ashamed of herself. Stupid bint. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/single-mother-rejected-by-air-force-claims-theyre-encouraging-abortion/638834.md?page=2)