>>8949726

http://web.archive.org/web/20250316051152/https://lynettesilver.com/investigations/rape-and-murder-of-australian-nurses-on-bangka-island/
> Five months after the rape, in mid-July 1942, Sister Bullwinkel was hospitalised again for nine days. She was still a healthy weight at this time. While the brief clinical notes indicate she was being treated for her feet – is it possible she miscarried a child during that hospital stay?
> After giving birth or miscarrying, a woman’s periods generally resume after four to six weeks.
> Sister Bullwinkel’s periods resumed eight weeks after her discharge from hospital and continued uninterrupted for several years until June 1944, until such time as the nurses and other prisoners of war were all suffering from starvation and malnutrition.
> Again, Professor Lewis cautions the absence of Sister Bullwinkel’s periods was most likely stress related, following the trauma of the massacre. “However, pregnancy cannot be excluded based on the lack of a result from a pregnancy test in the notes, and if [Bullwinkel] was pregnant and infected with syphilis, then there would be a higher chance of miscarriage,” he says.
> “The possibility that Vivian Bullwinkel may have become pregnant and contracted syphilis is just devastating. We may never have a definitive answer because she was required to keep so much of her wartime suffering a secret.

Interestingly, the Japanese did issue their soldiers condoms.

https://apjjf.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/article-400.pdf
> during the war the Army Accounts Department and the Supply Headquarters were responsible for sending condoms to forces stationed overseas, and officials ensured a ready supply. In 1942, for example, 32.1 million condoms were sent to units stationed outside Japan.
> This was also clear from the testimonies of former Japanese soldiers who said they were given condoms before embarkation, despite officers’ instructions not to rape women.