Image – Shutterstock: RFA Fort Victoria moored in HMNB Devonport, Devon
Women serving in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) have alleged that current policies and workplace culture are leaving some feeling they must choose between their careers and their babies. The claims, now under “full and urgent attention” from the First Sea Lord, raise serious ethical as well as practical concerns.
According to those who have spoken out, RFA personnel who become pregnant effectively face four options: take extended unpaid leave and forfeit their salary, return to sea shortly after giving birth and leave their child behind, resign, or abort. Unlike Royal Navy personnel, there are no equivalent legal protections for dual-serving parents in the RFA. For women whose partners are also serving at sea, the strain can be acute.
Most troubling are allegations that some women have chosen abortion because they felt unable to continue their pregnancies while remaining in post. One sailor claimed: “I know women have had abortions because of this policy, which is wholly inappropriate.” A union source said he had spoken to former crew members who felt pressured to end pregnancies to protect their careers, with at least two going through with abortions at significant cost to their mental health.
If these accounts are accurate, they point to more than bureaucratic shortcomings. They suggest a culture in which pregnancy is treated as a professional liability. One woman alleged she was told during a career interview that getting pregnant would be “my fault,” and that “mothers are a nuisance and it’s better for the organisation if we have none.” Even if such remarks were isolated, they reflect an attitude fundamentally at odds with any family-friendly workplace.
The RFA is already facing staffing shortages, with vessels reportedly stuck in port for lack of personnel. Driving experienced women out of the service or creating an environment in which they feel motherhood is incompatible with service only deepens the crisis.
The Ministry of Defence says statutory maternity rights and support provisions remain in place. Yet rights on paper mean little if women perceive that exercising them will derail their careers. When a workplace environment leaves women believing that continuing a pregnancy may cost them their livelihood, the freedom of any “choice” is called into question.
Commenting on the story, Michael Robinson, SPUC’s Executive Director, said, “No woman serving her country should feel that ending the life of her unborn child is the price of professional survival. If the Royal Fleet Auxiliary is serious about equality and retention it must ensure that motherhood is accommodated and respected, not quietly discouraged. This country’s abortion culture has allowed institutions to neglect women who desire children by rebranding life as disposable. This must stop.”
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