Megan Rapinoe / Picture: APA / AFP / TIZIANA FABI
More than 500 female athletes have submitted an expert statement to the US Supreme Court, emphasizing the importance of the right to abortion. “As athletes in sport, we must have the power to make important decisions about our bodies and be in control of our reproduction,” said soccer star Megan Rapinoe. In addition to the world champion, 25 other Olympic participants are among the signatories.
The Supreme Court on Monday put the hearing of a lawsuit in the state of Mississippi on the agenda for December 1. The case seeks to reverse the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision making abortions legal across the country.
A Mississippi law, so far blocked by the courts, prohibits abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. The state is now also demanding that the Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade from 1973 to be taken back in general.
Mississippi tightened the course after the conservative lawyer Amy Coney Barrett was appointed to the Supreme Court shortly before the presidential election last year. With it the Conservatives got a majority of six to three votes in the Supreme Court.
