요약 본문
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) has recommended policy improvements to strengthen support for pregnancy and childbirth among military families. Under the new measures, servicemembers will be allowed to defer or postpone relocations if their spouse is pregnant or has just given birth. Additionally, military families will no longer be excluded from local government childbirth support due to short residency periods.
The ACRC aims to improve the conditions for military families, who face significantly worse pregnancy and childbirth conditions compared to the general public, in order to boost morale and provide substantial maternal protection. Due to frequent relocations, military families often fail to meet local government residency requirements for childbirth support or have to face childbirth and postpartum care alone when their servicemember spouse is reassigned.
Firstly, personnel and service regulations will be improved to protect maternal health. The ACRC has recommended amending the National Personnel Management Directive to allow postponement or deferral of relocations around the time of childbirth. Additionally, it aims to enhance vacation policies to better support male servicemembers in their role as caregivers for high-risk pregnancies, addressing issues within current female-centric policies.
Secondly, to eliminate gaps in local government childbirth support caused by frequent relocations, the ACRC has recommended waiving residency requirements or providing post-factum support if residency conditions are later met. Thirdly, to ensure stable living conditions for military families, the expansion of exceptions for residency obligations in policy loans has been suggested.