NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman has said that the status of abortion and reproductive rights in a potential NWSL market will have an impact on the league’s decision to award an expansion franchise.
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the status of abortion rights will now be left to individual states, with several already moving to enact severe restrictions – if not outright bans – on abortions.
On Wednesday, the NWSL confirmed it will add two new teams for the 2024 season, with a host of markets reported to be interested.
Speaking on a conference call on Thursday, Berman said that the league is reviewing the status not only of possible future locations, but current markets as well.
“I think we have to look at that not just from an expansion perspective, but really even our current landscape,” Berman said when asked about women’s bodily autonomy. “And it’s one of the things that we’re actually currently analyzing, which is looking even at our current markets to see where we have some differentiation between our values and what we stand behind relative to where we have teams located currently, and what are the solutions we can put in place that we feel comfortable we can commit to and execute on. So certainly in the context of expansion, that would be part of the analysis.”
Berman and the NWSL released a statement last month voicing their disagreement when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Statement from Commissioner Berman and the NWSL: pic.twitter.com/MX1dkRMKUM
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) June 24, 2022
Portland Thorns and USWNT goalkeeper Bella Bixby also posted a thread on Twitter explaining why the Supreme Court’s ruling, and possible future rulings to come, would have an impact on NWSL players.
Bixby mentioned Roe v. Wade as well as Griswold v. Connecticut, a landmark Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed a right to contraceptives, after Justice Clarence Thomas argued the Court “should reconsider” its ruling in Griswold in his concurring opinion over Roe.
Griswald v. Connecticut is up for grabs. While this obviously has far-reaching impact beyond womxn in sports, this would have a profound effect on our ability to delay family planning. Professional male athletes do not bear this burden. Why should we.
— Bella Bixby (@bellageist) June 24, 2022
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