Are female soldiers being treated fairly by the VA?
Thus far, we have deployed 180,000 women soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan. Although women are banned from direct participation in combat roles, they share many of the same problems as other soldiers and face many of the same risks, including roadside bombs; it is the responsibility of the Veterans Administration (VA) to treat them, just as they have treated male soldiers. But, for the VA, the responsibility to treat large numbers of female veterans is new and they are experiencing growing pains in dealing with some of the special problems women bring to the VA when compared to men. As one worker pointed out, the VA may eventually be doing as many pap smears as prostate exams. But the VA, like the National Institutes of Health, has been slow to adjust to the fact that women do not respond to stress or disease like men do and their needs may be very different from the VA’s long-standing policies about qualifications for treatment and the relevance of their experience in war. We don’t seem to acknowledge that sometime in the future if not the present, these women will want to have children and there is abundant evidence to show that stress in a pregnant woman is associated with a higher incidence of delivery problems and fetal health issues. So, it is important to look at women soldiers with the understanding that any stress-related problems can have serious consequences for the long-term welfare of their children and the entire family (not that this isn’t true for the male, who might even pass something on to his offspring epigeneticaly). Is their stress level going to disadvantage them as the future mothers of future Americans? We are going to face a huge increase in treating and caring for the veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, if Cheney gets his way, we might soon start adding the victims from our war with Iran to that list.
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