Posted on 05/14/2007 5:21:49 PM PDT by rhema
A new investigative report from ESPN reveals that women involved in college athletics are increasingly having abortions to avoid losing their scholarships. The sports television station's "Outside the Lines" program said the abortions are a response to college policies saying pregnant students will lose their university funding. The report included interviews with seven Clemson University students who indicated they each had abortions to get around the policy.
The students said that the NCAA has no general rules on how colleges should treat pregnant athletes but said most women they know feel abortion is their only solution to a pregnancy. They told ESPN there is tremendous pressure on them to not miss any games.
Others have tried to hide their pregnancies and play anyway as Syracuse basketball player Fantasia Goodwin did last season. She continued playing despite being seven months pregnant.
Cassandra Harding, a University of Memphis student on a full athletic scholarship for track, faced similar problems and shared her pregnancy experience with the station.
"I didn't want to talk to anyone about it. I thought, what am I going to do now?" she said. "I didn't want to lose my scholarship."
But her coaches, once they found out, said she would likely lose the scholarship -- and she eventually did.
Harding told ESPN that she and other members of the track team were forced to sign a statement saying they would lose their scholarships if they ever became pregnant.
"The track coaches hand that out to you. They like read it over and then tell you to sign it," said Harding, a jumper. "Well, I wasn't really thinking anything about it because I wasn't going to get pregnant."
Harding indicated she considered having an abortion when she became pregnant at the end of her sophomore year in 2004 but kept her baby instead.
She is now back on the track team as Memphis decided to renew the scholarship after she had her child when she won a place on the team as a walk-on.
"I shouldn't have been put in that position," she said. "I'm so happy I have my baby."
Harding had to sign the no pregnancy document again when she returned.
The Memphis athletic department refused to talk with the media about its policy and insisted that it has abided by the law and policies of the NCAA.
"The University of Memphis does not believe that it has violated any federal laws in the matter of Cassandra Harding," the school said in a statement.
NCAA spokesman Erik Christianson did not comment about the Clemson or University of Memphis cases but said there are no national NCAA guidelines about treating pregnant student athletes. He said any scholarship decisions remain with the colleges or universities.
He did say the NCAA allows students to apply for an extra year of eligibility which would not count as a redshirt year but would allow girls who become pregnant to attend college an extra year and stay in school for six years and compete for four.
Harding teammate Gail Lee signed the anti-pregnancy document too and said that she feels the policy treats women in an inequitable manner.
"There are guys on our team that have babies. Why wouldn't they have to follow the same rule?" she asked.
Barbara Osborne, a lawyer and assistant professor of sports law research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told AP that some colleges are beginning to allow for pregnancies and do what they can to help pregnant and parenting students, but she says more needs to be done.
"Refusing to renew scholarships solely because of pregnancy smacks of moralizing," Osborne said, "and to actually have a policy like that and put it in writing seems very 1940s and '50s."
What ever happened to birth control BEFORE women get pregnant?
Whatever happened to waiting to have sex until you were married?
Forced? They agreed to sign the statement as a condition of receiving their scholarship! Then they violated the agreement, which led to them giving up the scholarship. I see nothing wrong with them giving up the scholarship because they became pregnant. The school is paying for their education based on their ability to compete in a given activity. If they cannot compete, they do deserve a free (or partially free) education. They can always pay for it themselves.
do deserve = do not deserve
Why not talk about the policy?
"There are guys on our team that have babies. Why wouldn't they have to follow the same rule?" she asked.
An excellent question.
In Memphis, Father’s Day is utter chaos!
The answer is quite clear! A pregnant woman would not be able to continue to perform on the team. A man just goes about his business.
I am proud of the U of M. where my children and grandchildren have had to work their butts off to maintain their academic scholarships, and graduate with honors.
Yet another social reason for abotions. This IS their method of birth control.
A man who gets sick or injured often cannot go about his business either. Why treat pregnancy differently from other medical conditions?
I know these girls are jocks, but that’s no excuse to be dumb. It is so easy to figure out how not to get pregnant.
1) Keep your legs together, or
2) Use two independent forms of contraception.
These girls have enough self-discipline to earn their scholarships - does it carry over to any other part of their lives?
Mrs VS
>>What ever happened to birth control BEFORE women get pregnant?<<
Exactly. And that’s why I say I’m Pro-Choice. Choose to use birth control or choose to live with the consequences.
Somehow, others who call themselves pro-choice don’t seem to like my take on the situation...
Your questions just get dumber and dumber.
Pregnancy is not an injury!
>>I am proud of the U of M. where my children and grandchildren have had to work their butts off to maintain their academic scholarships, and graduate with honors.<<<
And your kids and grandkids might very well lose those scholarships if they let their grades slide after becoming pregnant. Most academic scholarships carry expectations—just like athletic scholarships do.
And good for you kids and grandkids! :)
Logophile said: An excellent question.
This is NOT an excellent question, it is a stupid question with a very obvious answer. Men don't have to carry the baby around for 9 months, in which time the women can't compete at least for some of the time and their performance will suffer for all of the time and atheletic prowess is what they got scholarship for. Men can have babies(or more acurately, father babies)with out their athletic performance suffering, women can't.
This provision seems to be fair to me and it is easy enough for women not to get pregnant in today's world. If they don't want to follow the terms they don't have to sign the agreement and can let the scholarship go.
As well they should!
Now if the fathers had to work 40 hours a week to pay child support, they might be in the same boat.
But apparently, they don’t.
Mrs VS
Men who get sick or injured and can't carry out the terms of their scholarships will also loose their scholarships, depending on the length of the injury and how it came about. Illness usually passes in a short time but still, if the illness is serious enough to interfere for a long period of time, the man will lose his scholarship.
If a male athlete is injured, the athletic dept. has insurance to keep him on scholarship.
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