The Olympics kicks off this weekend and Americans will be mostly glued to their television sets in order to catch sight of Americans hopefully claiming victory in several key events. However, there is a dark side to the pursuit of Olympic gold, and it’s preborn babies who pay the price.

Abortion is apparently a common way for women, especially track and field athletes, to continue their competition schedule. According to retired Olympic athlete Sanya Richards-Ross, “most of the women I knew in my sport have had at least one abortion.”

This is what the 2016 Olympic champion Brianna McNeal did in early 2020. In order to compete in the games that summer, which were eventually cancelled, McNeal underwent an abortion. During that time, she also missed a surprise anti-doping appointment. As a result of that missed appointment, and other violations as well, McNeal has now been temporarily banned from competing for the next five years.

So, essentially McNeal’s decision to end her pregnancy was pointless. She has lost her firstborn child for a game that never happened in 2020 and will now be unable to defend her title on the international stage.

McNeal tried to keep the situation private, initially explaining to officials that she had a “surprise medical procedure.”

“I tried to keep the abortion private, but they just kept tugging and tugging at me, wanting more information,” McNeal said. “I couldn’t believe that I was charged with a violation because I had the dates mixed up by just 24 hours. It’s not like the procedure didn’t happen.”

If McNeal had chosen motherhood instead of abortion, she would likely be competing later this month with her young baby watching on. But the decision to pursue her Olympic dreams cost her a spot on the podium, her ability to compete over the next five years and the love of her child.

The New York Times admits, “McNeal had been so shaken and disoriented by the abortion, she said, that it didn’t occur to her that changing the date would be a bad thing.”

Women are told that they have to choose: personal success or motherhood. But why can’t women do both? Why is a preborn child sacrificed at the altar of success?

But not all women choose professional achievements over their children.

Lindsay Flach, another track and field athlete, arrived at the Olympic trials in Oregon with her 18-week pregnant belly proudly on display.

On her Instagram, she wrote, “This one looks a little different. The secret is no secret anymore.”

“It was hard mentally because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to compete at the level I was capable of 18 weeks ago, but I just wanted to prove what women are capable of,” Flach said to Yahoo Sports.

She was able to show up for the event despite dealing with severe morning sickness for the first 12 weeks. Though it wasn’t her best show, she placed 15th out of 18 in the 100 meters of the 800 meters run, which was done in the blistering heat that the Pacific Northwest experienced several weeks ago. But she still competed and actually beat other competitors who were not pregnant.

Kerri Walsh, the most decorated female beach volleyball player of all time, won Olympic gold in the 2012 London games while five weeks pregnant with her third child. It was also her third consecutive Olympic gold.

Though Walsh didn’t know for sure, her beach volleyball partner Misty May-Treanor noticed that she was a little “moody” during the games and actually joked, “You’re probably pregnant.”

“I thought it could have been the stress of the Games, and travel kind of throws your schedule off, but I knew,” Walsh said. “At some point, you’re late and then you start feeling something. And I definitely started feeling something in London.”

Getting pregnant didn’t mean that Walsh stopped competing, she won despite her pregnancy and now has a fantastic story to tell her daughter about how she helped her mom achieve Olympic victory.

Sadly, the abortion industry would tell Walsh, Flach and others like them that victory could only come by sacrificing their children. Women are also often told that they can’t come back and compete after having children. That perspective is changing in Olympic competition, but slowly.

An encouraging sign, at least in women’s gymnastics, is Chellsie Memmel. A former Olympian who is getting back into the sport and competing in her 30s after having two children.

Women can achieve anything. The abortion industry doesn’t believe that. Instead, it believes that the only way women can be successful is through aborting their children.

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