Abortion access is extremely controversial in the United States right now. The state of Mississippi recently put a ban on abortions past 15 weeks, and female athletes are courageously speaking out.
The Supreme Court will hear the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in December. The conservative leaning Supreme Court could use this case to render Roe v. Wade useless. A group of 500 female athletes and coaches have filed a brief calling for the Supreme Court to protect abortion access.
The headline names in this brief are: U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team player, Megan Rapinoe, Ashleigh Johnson, who was the first black woman on the U.S. Olympic water polo team, Women’s National Basketball Association star, Diana Taurasi, and Crissy Perham, who is a double gold medalist for swimming.
These individual athletes are participating in this brief in addition to the WNBA itself and the National Women’s Soccer League Player’s Association. Activism in sports is not a new thing, and has been around for decades. However, a collective movement of athletes from multiple sports fighting for bodily autonomy is certainly a new movement.
The brief states, “without the constitutional guarantee of reproductive freedom, many women athletes would be forced to sacrifice their athletic pursuits.” This excerpt summarizes the main argument that the female athletes bring up in their dissent. Additionally, they include a few personal stories to humanize this argument.
Crissy Perham tells the world for the first time that she had an abortion. She was in college, on birth control, and it was a complete accident. If she had been forced to carry to term, she would have lost her athletic scholarship, and never would have been able to win her first national championship that next summer. Her national championship led to her eventual Olympic medals, and the life of her dreams. Because she was able to have access to a safe abortion, she is now a college graduate, an Olympian, and a capable, mature mother.
The brief continues with story after story. An anonymous contributor did not know she was pregnant until 12 weeks. Another knew that her life and career as an athlete would be derailed if her birth control failed her and she did not have any other options. A third is terrified over what would happen to her, as a college athlete, if she were to become pregnant and forced to give birth to a child.
These individual stories hit the nail on the head that every person needs to have the option to make these choices for themselves. We all have different lives and different circumstances.
Despite what these conservative lawmakers would like, the option to have an abortion will always be present. These bans are only limiting safe abortions in clean environments. “Pro-life” lawmakers will, in turn, cause unsafe abortions to occur, which will lead to increased complications for mothers and fetuses during abortions.
These athletes are bearing their souls to the Supreme Court, and begging them to consider the ramifications of their future decision, and we, as females, can only hope that the Court listens.