Estimates of Unintended Pregnancies and Readiness Days Lost Because of Parental Leave Among Active Duty Servicemen, 2022-2025

INTRODUCTION: Paid parental leave has demonstrated clear benefits for the health and well-being of infants and families. In 2022, the amount of paternity leave available to US servicemen increased from 3 to 12 weeks. Although family wellbeing positively impacts readiness for the military mission, extra time away negatively impacts readiness. In 2019, unintended pregnancy (UIP) contributed significantly to lost readiness among active duty servicewomen. Given this recent policy change, we estimated lost readiness days due to parental leave in active duty servicemen. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of UIP and readiness days lost because of parental leave among active duty servicemen between FY 2022-2025. Servicemen were identified by matching them to confirmed deliveries or if an infant child was added as a dependent to their beneficiary record. UIP estimates were calculated as 5.5% (military expected prevalence) and 41.7% (civilian expected prevalence) of all new fathers. Maximum (84 days per birth) and partial (52 days per birth; median leave days taken in the Army) readiness days lost were calculated among all new fathers and from UIP estimates. RESULTS: We identified 280,498 total incidences of new fathers among 226,360 active duty servicemen and estimated 23,561,832 maximum readiness days lost (mRDL) and 15,427,390 partial readiness days lost (pRDL). Using the military expected prevalence (5.5%), we estimated 15,427 UIP with an expected 1,295,901 mRDL and 848,506 pRDL due to UIP. Using the civilian expected prevalence (41.7%), we estimated 116,968 UIP with an expected 9,825,284 mRDL and 6,082,319 pRDL due to UIP. Groups with the highest estimates of UIP, mRDL, and pRDL include active duty members in senior enlisted ranks, the US Army, and in warfighter/combat specialties. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to examine the impact of parental leave on readiness among active duty servicemen. Our findings show that similar to servicewomen, UIP results in a considerable number of lost readiness days among servicemen. Efforts to reduce UIP through expanding reproductive health services targeted to men could reduce the number of readiness days lost among active duty servicemen.