{"id":221686,"date":"2020-04-12T13:50:42","date_gmt":"2020-04-12T18:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=221686"},"modified":"2020-04-10T23:19:18","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T04:19:18","slug":"pro-choice-unplanned-pregnancy-threatened-athletic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-choice-unplanned-pregnancy-threatened-athletic\/","title":{"rendered":"She was pro-choice until her own unplanned pregnancy threatened her athletic scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Secular Pro-Life<\/a>)\u00a0In January 2000, I was 21. I was on a half-ride athletic scholarship (track and cross country) at a Division I university. I was not only Team Captain but also the number one runner. I had everything going for me (and therefore everything to lose). I knew that, so I took precautions to avoid unwanted pregnancy.<\/p>\n

But during indoor track season I could run a mile in just above 5 minutes, which was my time for mile repeats just a few months prior. It didn\u2019t make sense. My coach sent me to get tested for anemia, which is how I learned I wasn\u2019t anemic, but I was pregnant. 10 weeks pregnant.<\/p>\n

At this point in my life, I was vocally pro-choice. I had friends and rivals who had procured abortions so their athletic careers weren\u2019t hindered by surprise pregnancies. Now it was my turn to consider my options. Instead of returning to my (then) fianc\u00e9\u2019s apartment, I drove to a park, sat in my car, and cried. Now that I had to face abortion head on, I couldn\u2019t continue my comfortable lie that a fetus was just a \u201cclump of cells.\u201d I knew there was a tiny human growing within me. Abortion would mean ending my child\u2019s life. I knew this as an objective, undeniable, scientific fact. Another scientific fact: I could not remain competitive at the Division I level much longer. I was in the middle of a moral dilemma, and it quickly dawned on me that I may not really have much of a choice at all.<\/p>\n

My Division I coach had full power over my future. He could pull my scholarship at any time for any reason. [SPL<\/em>\u00a0Editor’s note: Title IX specifically prohibits discrimination against pregnant athletes<\/a>. When we asked Annie about this factor, she explained that their required student athlete course did not mention that information, and she wasn’t aware of that protection at the time she was pregnant.<\/i>] I knew most coaches pulled scholarships for any \u201cinjury\u201d that would take an athlete out of competition for an entire season. Even though the athlete could \u201credshirt\u201d (sit out) and get the season back later, coaches usually had walk-ons who were talented enough to score points now. Coaches could free up money to give to a \u201chealthy\u201d athlete. As I weighed my options I realized that my rivals who had abortions may not have wanted them. I knew I couldn\u2019t finish my degree without my scholarship. I figured without a degree I didn\u2019t have much of a future. If my friends and rivals\u2019 situations were like mine, and if their coaches threatened to take their scholarships if they chose to stay pregnant, they didn\u2019t have the luxury of choice\u2014the choice was made for them by men with power over their lives. This thought terrified me.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Nike wanted to cut nine-time Olympic medalist\u2019s pay 70% when she got pregnant. She fought back.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I went back to my fianc\u00e9\u2019s apartment and told him. He was also on an athletic scholarship for track. I begged him to go with me to tell our coach; even he was terrified to reveal our pregnancy, but I had to find out if I could keep my baby and my scholarship. I wasn\u2019t going to kill another human on an assumption that I might lose a scholarship.<\/p>\n

Turns out I was lucky. My coach didn\u2019t give me an ultimatum; I redshirted my outdoor season, came back the following year, and provisionally qualified for NCAA Nationals in steeplechase [3.000 meter race], my very first race back. I got to keep my scholarship, earn my degree, and have my baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cooper and Annie<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This experience made me pro-life. I realized that abortion is weaponized against women. Those in authority\u2014those with the purse strings\u2014can treat pregnancy as an illness and abortion as its cure. I realized women with wanted pregnancies may be manipulated into ending them, and as long as abortion is available \u201con demand\u201d it will be used to control and manipulate women.<\/p>\n

This problem trickles into accommodating difficult pregnancies as well. During my second pregnancy I required strict bedrest. I was teaching full-time, and when I asked my principal for paid leave, he said, \u201cWe consider what you are asking for to be \u2018maternity leave,\u2019 which we deem a personal choice, and so we do not compensate for it. Now, if you had cancer or something and required extended leave you could take it from the leave pool.\u201d He knew I had just been released from the hospital with a prescription for strict bedrest, but since staying pregnant was my \u201cpersonal choice\u201d my employer saw no obligation to support me. At that point I was the primary breadwinner for our family because my husband was finishing his degree. We ended up going deeply into debt to pay our bills so we could have our second child. \u201cMy body my choice\u201d isn\u2019t true. Even if there is a choice, it is often not made by the woman.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Female athletes say Nike discriminated against them for getting pregnant<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a manufactured <\/i>choice between poverty and motherhood, and abortion on demand makes it so, enabling society to treat pregnancy as a chosen \u201cdisease.\u201d Women often aren\u2019t making the choice they want to make. They are making a \u201cSophie\u2019s choice\u201d based on circumstance forced on them by those who have power over their destiny. It\u2019s pretty easy to put a woman in that position when the people pushing it aren\u2019t the ones who pay the price for it (and in fact will benefit from it). If women lack support for their pregnancies, the solution should be to create that support, not push them to end their pregnancies. I am pro-life because I am pro-woman.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at Secular Pro-Life<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission. Secular Pro-Life notes that\u00a0Annie Gasway converted from being pro-choice to pro-life because of her experiences with unintended pregnancy.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Secular Pro-Life)\u00a0In January 2000, I was 21. I was on a half-ride athletic scholarship (track and cross country) at a Division I university. I was not only Team Captain but also the number one runner. I had everything going for me (and therefore everything to lose). 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