Sports Initiative

With numerous states limiting access to reproductive health care, athletes are being forced to make difficult decisions about where they live and play.

Why this initiative matters:

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, lawmakers in states across the country have severely limited access to reproductive healthcare. For collegiate and professional-level athletes, this has posed unique challenges. Given the complex landscape of reproductive healthcare options, female athletes—and any athlete who can get pregnant—are now being forced to make difficult decisions about where they live and play. This means that athletes now have to choose between their job or athletic career and their right to comprehensive reproductive healthcare, or risk their lives and health to travel to another state to receive the critical care they need.  

Full participation in sports requires full bodily autonomy.  

In order to participate in sports, athletes need to be able to make decisions about their bodies and their health. Not only is it a fundamental human right, it goes to the very heart of athletic competition. That ability can’t be subject to unequal and changing laws from state-to-state. Athletes need access to full reproductive and bodily autonomy to make the best decisions for themselves and to compete to their full ability.  

Athletes need to be able to travel – and relocate – frequently. 

Being recruited as a college athlete. Being drafted as a pro. Being traded throughout a career. Playing away games and out-of-state tournaments. Being on a team that is bought by another city. An athletic career is full of moments that mean players need to quickly be able to travel and move across the country. The decisions that go into those moments should be about where and how a player can best compete. But post-Roe, athletes traveling to states that have banned or restricted abortion must now consider whether they will have access to the healthcare they need to play on the team they want–or whether competing in an out-of-state game will present a risk to their health or life. No one should have to make a choice like that in order to make a living.  

Sports matter. 

Playing sports is something that many people—particularly girls and women—cite as one of the activities where they first developed leadership skills, teamwork, and the confidence to compete. Sports can be life-changing for any person, and it should be fully accessible and inclusive for anyone who wants to play, and yet attacks on reproductive rights make it difficult to achieve gender equity in sports. The Center envisions a world where all people – regardless of gender – can fully participate in all aspects of life. Highlighting the relationship between sports and reproductive rights helps us get close to that world.  

What we do:  

The Center works with sports leaders to: 

• Raise awareness of the relationship between reproductive rights and athletics 
• Launch a Sports Council comprised of athletes and leaders in the sports community to collectively advocate for reforms 

• Provide regular briefings and resources for the sports community during key moments in the movements 
• Train athletes to participate in advocacy opportunities  
• Partner with league officials to ensure that they are providing protection for employees’ reproductive freedom 

Interested in hearing more or are you an athlete interested in getting involved?

• Email us at [email protected].