Moving forward

Some branches of the military have already begun to address these issues. The Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center created the Sexual Health and Responsibility Program (SHARP) in 1999 to help reduce the occurrence of sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.

"Policies and programs, like SHARP, have been put in place to help minimize these barriers," Pilip-Florea said. "As a result, we believe those mentioned by Dr. Grossman may exist in isolated cases but do not represent a systemic problem."

In 2012, the Navy issued a policy requiring all females to be offered contraception services immediately after receiving orders to make sure they have time to find a contraception method before being deployed, Pilip-Florea said.

Navy medical facilities also have a film on the different kinds of contraceptives; the facilities will soon receive another film on the consequences of unplanned pregnancies.

The Navy also plans to add a "multi-hour, facilitated classroom lecture on family planning" to their mandatory training after boot camp, according to Pilip-Florea.

Grossman acknowledged these efforts, but said more needs to be done across all branches to provide education and access to contraception for servicewomen.

"These findings highlight an important public health problem within the military that has not been adequately addressed," the study authors wrote.