More than 500 athletes wanted the Supreme Court to hear their abortion stories
Synopsis
Olympians, national medalists, college athletes, and high school competitors filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court ahead of its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, explaining how abortion access shaped their lives and careers.
More than 500 women athletes, from Olympic and national champions to collegiate and high school competitors, submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in 2022 explaining how abortion access shaped their lives and careers. The signatories included some of the most decorated athletes in the country, including Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, Brittney Griner, Layshia Clarendon, Ashleigh Johnson, and Diana Taurasi. Some shared their own abortion stories publicly for the first time, while others described teammates whose athletic futures depended on abortion access.
Their stories show the stakes for elite athletes when the years that they can compete at the highest level overlap with childbearing years. A torn ACL can alter a career. A single missed season can change who qualifies for a championship, earns a scholarship, makes a professional team’s roster, or competes in the Olympics. For many athletes, pregnancy can mean years of recovery, changes in their body, strength and endurance, loss of sponsorships, interrupted education, and financial uncertainty.
My life would be drastically different if I had been pregnant and forced to sit that race out, because that race changed the course of my life.
Crissy Perham, who won two gold medals and a silver at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics, shared her story publicly for the first time to speak out against abortion bans. She told the Court that access to abortion made her Olympic career possible. The summer after her abortion, she won her first national championship.
When I was in college, I was on birth control, but I accidentally became pregnant. I was on scholarship, I was just starting to succeed in my sport, and I didn’t want to take a year off. I decided to have an abortion. I wasn’t ready to be a mom, and having an abortion felt like I was given a second chance at life. I was able to take control of my future and refocus my priorities. I got better in school, I started training really hard, and that summer, I won my first national championship. My life would be drastically different if I had been pregnant and forced to sit that race out, because that race changed the course of my life. It opened up so many opportunities, and a year later, I made the Olympic team. Even though it was nearly thirty years ago, I can count on one hand how many people I’ve told about my abortion. Until now. I made the choice that was right for me and my future, and I stand by my decision. That choice ultimately led me to being an Olympian, a college graduate, and a proud mother today. I’m finally speaking up and sharing my story because there shouldn’t be a stigma surrounding personal health care decisions. Women know what’s best for our own bodies and lives, and our autonomy needs to be respected.
Throughout the brief, athletes described how pregnancy fundamentally changes the body they rely on to compete. Pregnancy brings physiological changes that can affect nearly every aspect of athletic performance, including increased blood volume, changes in balance and coordination, pelvic floor injuries, time away from training, and loss of competitive conditioning. Those physical demands can permanently alter the course of a career.
National champion marathon runner Kara Goucher became an advocate for women’s reproductive rights in sports after she was penalized by her sponsor Nike during her pregnancy. After giving birth, her doctor told her she had to choose between breastfeeding and maintaining the 120-mile training weeks required for elite competition. Her story illustrated the physical and professional consequences to pregnancy many elite athletes described throughout the brief.
The athletes who signed the brief described how access to abortion made it possible to stay in school, remain on their teams, and continue pursuing careers they had spent years building. Many said they would have lost scholarships, leadership positions, graduate school opportunities, and the chance to compete at the highest levels of their sports.
I had the option to control my body and my life, and to make the decisions that were best for me, is what gave me the freedom to pursue my dreams and attain my personal, educational, and athletic goals.
The brief also included stories from athletes who signed anonymously because they feared professional, social, and personal repercussions for speaking publicly about abortion. Their stories underscore how stigma continues to silence many athletes even as abortion is common in competitive sports. From one anonymous professional soccer player:
I accidentally became pregnant in college due to a failure in my birth control. I went to Planned Parenthood to discuss my options, and I decided to have an abortion to ensure I could continue to pursue my collegiate and professional soccer career. I ultimately had a miscarriage a few days later and did not need abortion services, but knowing I had the option to control my body and my life, and to make the decisions that were best for me, is what gave me the freedom to pursue my dreams and attain my personal, educational, and athletic goals.
These athletes described teammates, training partners, and competitors who had abortions, arguing that abortion is far more common in elite sports than most people realize. They told the Court that abortion access has shaped not only individual careers, but the future of entire teams.
One of the first athletes to speak publicly about her own experience is Sanya Richards-Ross. Before winning four Olympic gold medals, she had an abortion before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Richards-Ross has since said that many of the women she knew in elite track and field had also had abortions but rarely spoke about them publicly.
Most of the women I knew in my sport have had at least one abortion.
Before Title IX, only 4% of girls played sports. Today, 40% do. The women who signed the brief pointed to that dramatic shift as evidence of how expanding opportunities for women have gone hand in hand with reproductive autonomy. They argued that access to abortion has been fundamental to that progress.
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More than 500 athletes wanted the Supreme Court to hear their abortion stories
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