If it's a problem, why? If it's not a problem, why not?
Here's the background, from Olympic Athletes Getting Pregnant & Aborting to Boost Performance:
Mona Passignano, director of research at the Texas pro-life group Life Dynamics is quoted by Report quoting from a Finnish sports medicine expert: "Now that drug testing is routine, pregnancy is becoming the favourite way of getting an edge on competition." One Russian athlete told a reporter that as long ago as the '70s, gymnasts as young as 14 were ordered to sleep with their coaches to get pregnant--and then abort. The procedure is so well known it has made it to the textbooks. LifeSite found the method described in an online textbook in physiology by Dr. Poul-Erik Paulev of the Department of Medical Physiology, University of Copenhagen.
Professor Paulev writes that pregnancy seems to increase muscle strength in female athletes. "Female top athletes - just following the time when they gave birth to their first child - have set several world records. Of course, this is acceptable as a natural and unintended event. However, in some countries female athletes have become pregnant for 2-3 months, in order to improve their performance just after the abortion."
The links to the article and the textbook have expired. Does anybody have new links? I think the book in question is here (scroll down), and it says, "However, in some countries female athletes have become pregnant for 2-3 months, in order to improve their performance just following an abortion."
Snopes.com has this to say on the subject. Chicago Athlete makes mention of the practice.
But the question isn't so much as "Does this happen?" as "If a woman has every right to do as she pleases with her body, can this be wrong?"
I find it wrong on so many different levels! 14 year olds being forced to sleep with their coaches!?! I wonder how many took jobs coaching just so they could get the 'benefits'.
ReplyDeleteAs to the question of whether it should be allowed I certainly don't think so on both it being an abortion and also it being a way of cheating. If she allowed the pregnancy to come to full term it would be okay b/c the time she'd have to take off for the last few months of the pregnancy would outweigh the benefits she would have gained. Aborting the pregnancy just for the benefits is the same as taking a steriod to gain the benefits so if one is illegal, the other should be as well. My guess is though that they'll then just start claiming that they all suffered miscarriages and they were never near an abortionist...