• About
  • Links
  • Sex & Herbs & Birth Control
  • Questions to Ask Your Priest

ahkoblitz

~ Sex, Abortion, and Contraception

ahkoblitz

Tag Archives: Tommie Smith

Professional Women’s Basketball Team Takes a Stand for Women’s Reproductive Health

18 Sunday Jun 2017

Posted by Ann Hibner Koblitz in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Black Power salute, Colin Kaepernick, John Carlos, Mexico City Olympics, Muhammad Ali, Planned Parenthood, reproductive health, Seattle Storm, Tommie Smith, women's basketball

Occasionally athletes make the headlines because of their visible and vocal commitment to progressive political causes. In 1967 Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. army, saying that he had no quarrel with the Vietnamese people; he was vilified in the press and (temporarily) stripped of his heavyweight boxing title. In 1968, runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos, winners respectively of Olympic gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter dash, drew the ire of conservatives by raising their fists in the Black Power salute during the award ceremony. In 2016, quarterback Colin Kaepernick and later several other U.S. football players began kneeling during the national anthem (which is played before U.S. sporting events) to protest racist violence and show their support for the organization Black Lives Matter.

Black Power salute at the Mexico City Olympics, 1968.

The most recent example of people in the sports world taking a courageous stand on principle concerns the fight to maintain women’s access to reproductive health care. As discussed in previous blog posts, in the U.S. there have been massive and increasing attacks on women’s reproductive health. Misogynist Republicans at the state and federal levels have been assiduously working to defund Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that for many low-income women, the organization provides their only access to health screening exams. In the face of this concerted assault, the Seattle Storm, a professional women’s basketball team which is one of the very few sports teams owned by women, has announced a pathbreaking formal partnership with Planned Parenthood.

On July 18, 2017 the Storm will have a “Stand With Planned Parenthood” rally before their game with the Chicago Sky. Five dollars from the sale of each ticket will go to Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, and there will be a fundraising auction as well.

Interestingly, the Storm ownership group does not think that their action will be particularly controversial among their fans. In an interview with The New York Times, co-owner Dawn Trudeau noted that the team owners, their audiences and their players share a progressive outlook. Trudeau sees the partnership with Planned Parenthood as a way to “make a meaningful impact on the national health care debate.” According to the Times article, reaction among coaches and players on other professional women’s basketball teams has been very positive. Chicago Sky player Imani Boyette noted that “Planned Parenthood is vital for women who don’t have access to standard health care. I was a P.P. patient in high school because I didn’t have health insurance. Taking a stand for things that affect the underprivileged, as a league and [as] women of privilege, is how change happens.”

As readers of Sex and Herbs and Birth Control know, I am not uniformly positive about Planned Parenthood’s role historically or internationally. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, often consorted with racists and eugenicists in her efforts to get funding, and International Planned Parenthood often acts in culturally inappropriate ways. But at present in the United States, Planned Parenthood plays a crucial role in women’s health, and efforts to defund the organization must be resisted. As Boyette notes, Planned Parenthood is often the only recourse for women without health insurance, and is their best option for obtaining mammograms, Pap smears, STD-screening, and low-cost contraceptives.

Pages

  • About
  • Links
  • Sex & Herbs & Birth Control
  • Questions to Ask Your Priest

Posts

  • Blue Hawaii
  • Boycott the Red States for the Sake of Women’s Health
  • U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade
  • Backlash Against the Misogynists
  • Dr. F. J. Taussig, Abortion, and the Washington University Medical School
  • With a Little Help from Their Friends
  • “Fetus-Centered” yet High Infant Mortality
  • Women of Texas: South of the Border for Reproductive Rights
  • U.S. Bishops vs the Vatican
  • Anti-Abortionists Took Part in Attack on the U.S. Capitol
  • Huge Victory for Argentinian Women
  • Hypocrisy and the Geneva “Consensus” Declaration
  • A Tale of Two Books
  • Abortion Access During the Pandemic
  • U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic As Excuse to Attack Abortion Rights
  • Clarence Thomas Race-Baits Abortion Rights Advocates
  • An Opportunity for Indonesia?
  • Congratulations to the people of Ireland!
  • The Outrage of El Salvador
  • “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”
  • A New Book Describes the Women’s Wing of the U.S. Anti-Abortion Movement
  • Melinda Gates Makes the Same Mistake as Margaret Sanger
  • Professional Women’s Basketball Team Takes a Stand for Women’s Reproductive Health
  • How to Lie without Lying
  • The New Face of Misogyny in the U.S.

Your comments are welcome, but please…

Your comments are welcome, but please (a) no anonymous posts and (b) no abusive or profane language. We reserve the right to edit for length. All comments must be related to the topics of the posts and pages. Except for that, your contributions will be posted unaltered and unedited.

Recent Comments

KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…

Archives

  • May 2023
  • October 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • September 2021
  • June 2021
  • January 2021
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • December 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • February 2016
  • September 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013

Posts

  • Blue Hawaii
  • Boycott the Red States for the Sake of Women’s Health
  • U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade
  • Backlash Against the Misogynists
  • Dr. F. J. Taussig, Abortion, and the Washington University Medical School
  • With a Little Help from Their Friends
  • “Fetus-Centered” yet High Infant Mortality
  • Women of Texas: South of the Border for Reproductive Rights
  • U.S. Bishops vs the Vatican
  • Anti-Abortionists Took Part in Attack on the U.S. Capitol
  • Huge Victory for Argentinian Women
  • Hypocrisy and the Geneva “Consensus” Declaration
  • A Tale of Two Books
  • Abortion Access During the Pandemic
  • U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic As Excuse to Attack Abortion Rights
  • Clarence Thomas Race-Baits Abortion Rights Advocates
  • An Opportunity for Indonesia?
  • Congratulations to the people of Ireland!
  • The Outrage of El Salvador
  • “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”
  • A New Book Describes the Women’s Wing of the U.S. Anti-Abortion Movement
  • Melinda Gates Makes the Same Mistake as Margaret Sanger
  • Professional Women’s Basketball Team Takes a Stand for Women’s Reproductive Health
  • How to Lie without Lying
  • The New Face of Misogyny in the U.S.

Recent Comments

KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
Ann Hibner Koblitz on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…
KS on U.S. Politicians Use Pandemic…

Archives

  • May 2023
  • October 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • September 2021
  • June 2021
  • January 2021
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • December 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • February 2016
  • September 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013

Pages

  • About
  • Questions to Ask Your Priest
  • Sex & Herbs & Birth Control
  • Links

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • ahkoblitz
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • ahkoblitz
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...