Ex-NWSL commissioner Jeff Plush under scrutiny over abuse report
Plush served as NWSL commissioner from 2014-17.
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As the Supreme Court gets set to hear a case involving Mississippi’s Republican-backed bid to ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, some of the most prominent women athletes are urging the Supreme Court to protect those rights.
The bid seeks to overturn Roe vs. Wade, a 1973 ruling that recognized a woman’s right to end a pregnancy and made abortion legal nationwide.
More than 500 athletes and groups signed a friend-of-the-court brief to the justices, including 26 Olympians, 73 professional athletes and various associations. Among them include soccer star Megan Rapinoe and basketball staples Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird.
The athletes argued that abortion rights have helped to grow women’s sports, and they expressed concern over athletes’ futures without the same protections.
“The physical tolls of forced pregnancy and childbirth would undermine athletes’ ability to actualize their full human potential,” the brief stated.
“As women athletes and people in sports, we must have the power to make important decisions about our own bodies and exert control over our reproductive lives,” said Rapinoe, a two-time World Cup winner and an Olympic gold medalist, in a statement. Additionally, she called legislation that seeks to end abortion rights “infuriating and un-American.”
Oral arguments in the case are set for December 1, with a ruling due by the end of next June.
Plush served as NWSL commissioner from 2014-17.
Sauerbrunn plays for the Thorns, whose leaders have been caught up in scandal.
The news comes in the wake of U.S. Soccer's bombshell report.
One investigation could only do so much, U.S. Soccer's lead investigator said.