All eyes are on a key case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is the first big challenge to Roe v. Wade since President Trump’s three nominees were appointed to the High Court. Arguments are scheduled to be held on December 1, with a decision being handed down sometime next year. In the meantime, America waits with bated breath to see what the political landscape will look like next year with regards to the abortion issue. It is clear to court monitors that the Dobbs case has the power to rock the nation.
One way that people can get involved in the time leading up to the decision is to file what is called an amicus brief with the court. Similarly to how individual citizens can often submit testimony on pending legislation, amicus briefs allow legal groups to present legal arguments before the High Court in written form.
Many of these briefs have already been filed on the Dobbs case, both pro-life and pro-choice, but one is particularly heartbreaking to me. A group of five hundred female athletes filed a brief which argues that they need to be able to kill their unborn children in order to succeed at athletic pursuits. The signatories on the brief included 73 professional athletes, high-profile women like the soccer player Megan Rapinoe, and two major players unions.
Despite what these sports figures would have you to believe, abortion does not empower women. It takes away the greatest power women have. Feminists complain all the time about how men dominate power structures, but no man can replace the vital role that women have in our society. They have the power to give life, and to nurture that life. How can sports compare?
From soccer to volleyball to basketball, America is home to some of the greatest female athletes in the world. Maybe pregnant women cannot compete in sports to the same level as their counterparts, why should that matter? I enjoy sports, but what sport is worth the life of a child? We need to empower women to embrace motherhood, not shame them into killing their child for a trophy.
