PREGNANT UK SOLDIER GIVES BIRTH ON THE FRONTLINE

A Fijian-British servicewoman has given birth to a baby boy, five weeks premature, on the front line while serving as a gunner in the Royal Artillery in Afghanistan. The woman- the first UK soldier to have a baby on the battlefield- did not know she was pregnant and was astonished when she reported to medics for stomach pains only to be told that she was about to give birth. She gave birth on 18 September. The birth took place in the Camp Bastion field hospital just days after the Taliban launched a deadly attack on the UK's main base in Helmand.

Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British troops in Afghanistan, said: ‘This soldier was extremely lucky to have given birth in Camp Bastion where there are excellent medical facilities. ‘But if she had been out on patrol or in a forward operating base the outcome might have been tragically different – resulting in harm to mother and child.

‘If she had to be evacuated from a forward position then her fellow soldiers might have had to carry her and her equipment over long distances in sweltering heat and under Taliban attack.

 ‘Aircrew and helicopters could have been endangered if she had to be flown out in hazardous circumstances. ‘These added dangers are clearly acceptable as a result of unpredictable injury or medical condition. But they are not acceptable in these circumstances.

‘For these reasons there should be compulsory pregnancy testing prior to any operational deployment.’