WNBA Union Condemns Texas Abortion Law in Full-Page NYT Ad: ‘Family Planning is Freedom’
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The WNBA players’ union blasted Texas’ new abortion ban in a full-page ad in Sunday’s print edition of the New York Times, writing that “reproductive rights are human rights” and “family planning is freedom.”
According to a tweet from Layshia Clarendon, the first openly nonbinary WNBA player, the players’ union wrote that “abortion, birth control, and fertility care are vital—not just for athletes who can get pregnant, but for all families and gender identities.”
“That’s why we as members of the WNBPA are proud to stand with everyone who’s fighting back against the cruel abortion bans in Texas and across the country,” it continued.
The ad follows a federal appeals court reinstating the Texas ban, which prohibits all abortions — even in cases of rape or incest — after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around the sixth week of pregnancy.
The league partnered with three reproductive rights groups including Planned Parenthood, as well as Athletes for Impact and Seeding Sovereignty to take out the ad.
Players’ association executive director Terri Jackson told The 19th that while “you’ve seen the players stand up in a myriad of ways,” having players sign onto the ad is something they had not done before.
Clarendon noted that “this directly affects a lot of people in our league as a women’s league and a league of people with uteruses.”
“We’ve gotten positioned as a social justice league full of Black women who are leading the way,” Clarendon told The 19th.
