Friday was filled with sadness. By taking an ax to Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that nearly 50 years ago guaranteed women the right to abortion, the Supreme Court demolished a signal of freedom in the battle for gender equality — freedom that helped female athletes achieve glory that many now take for granted.
Tears welled in the soccer star Megan Rapinoe’s eyes as she spoke at a news conference. Rapinoe called the Supreme Court’s timing “cruel” and spoke of living in a country “where you have a constant, violent, unrelenting tide against you, an onslaught as a woman.”
King, who has been a great torchbear for female empowerment through sports for so many years, made King’s disgust evident. “This decision will not end abortion,” she wrote on Twitter. “What it will end is safe and legal access to this vital medical procedure. It is a sad day in the United States.”
Crissy Perham is a three-time Olympic swimming medalist. She spoke to me about her college abortion experience and led her to sign an amicus brief to the Supreme Court supporting Roe. On Friday, I heard a similar despair to the King and Rapinoe shared.
“It’s so hypocritical to listen to anyone who is celebrating more opportunities for girls and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, if you have an ectopic pregnancy or decide to end your pregnancy, you could be put in jail,’” Perham said.
Perham won several national championships at Arizona University with a scholarship that was probably not possible without Title IX. She was among the brief’s 500 signatories, alongside Rapinoe, the Olympic water polo player Ashleigh Johnson and the players’ associations for both the W.N.B.A. and National Women’s Soccer League.
Their argument was simple.
Roe gave women athletes the freedom to decide when and how they want to give birth. This is a huge advantage given the short time athletes have to perform at their peak. Moreover, a through line connects the right to control one’s body with the empowerment and confidence that are currently sparking extraordinary success for women in sports.
Consider the U.S. team’s success at the Tokyo Olympics as an example. American women brought home a majority of the gold medals, a dominant performance that “would not have occurred without reproductive rights and the right to abortion,” said Joanna Wright, a lawyer who helped author the brief, during an October interview.
Take a look at how far we have come over the past 50 years.
We are not surprised when women’s college softball and basketball take center stage on national television.
It is not surprising to see women earning millions of dollars from endorsements and the same amount in prize money as men playing professional tennis.
It is not surprising that law and sports intersected in the 1970s to create the world we live in today.
Title IX became law in 1972. In 1973, abortion was legalized. In the same window, women’s sports gained new legitimacy among the masses when King walloped Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes and helped legitimize women’s professional tennis.
In the 1970s, Jay Berman was a top aide to Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, who has been called “the father of Title IX” for writing the legislation and helping guide it through the Senate.
Berman, 84, explained to me Friday that he had learned a lesson. He was saddened by the sound of his voice. Women’s rights should not be taken for granted in sports or any other part of life. The fight continues. “Every day,” he said. “Every day.”
There are certain abortion opponents in sports. They were quiet Friday, at most according to my observation. However, the former N.F.L. Benjamin Watson was a tight end wrote on Twitter that, “This turn in jurisprudence marks an end to an era of state sanctioned disregard for human dignity where profitability trumped personhood.”
I’ve been writing about women’s sports a great deal of late. I’ve talked to female athletes about having their power recognized. The role journalists play in this effort. How to balance being a top performer with trying to plan a family, and taking care of your reproductive health.
These women feel like I have a kinship. I see my mother and wife, as well as my cousins, colleagues, and friends. As a Black man living here in America, I feel connected to their struggle for empowerment and meditate on it.
A big part of any success I’ve had in life springs from my father’s achievements. He was one of the first Black players to play basketball at the University of Oregon in the 1950s. My dad’s college athletic scholarship, college education and athletic connections propelled his family into the middle class.
Oregon did not have a varsity women’s basketball team when my father played. That didn’t happen, at least in the elite and well-funded way we see today, until Title IX, which was passed during a seven-month stretch in which two pillars of equal rights for women became law. Only one pillar is still standing today.
This week began with celebrations of the achievements made by women athletes such as King or Perham. It ended in uncertainty.
“Disgusted, disappointed, disturbed,” read a social media post from TOGETHXR, the media company founded by Alex Morgan, the soccer star, the snowboarder Chloe Kim and the basketball legend Sue Bird.
“But, we are not done,” the statement continued. “We’ll never stop fighting.”
There is a new generation in female athletes and they won’t bow. This alone is reason to celebrate in these turbulent times.
Source: NY Times