Riley Gaines Announces and Celebrates New Baby

On Saturday, the twelve-time All-American swimmer-turned-defender of women’s sports, Riley Gaines, revealed to a cheering Turning Point USA crowd that she was 26 weeks pregnant. 

Addressing crass accusations from Olympic gymnast Simone Biles that her muscular and athletic body more closely resembled a man than a woman, Gaines stepped out from behind the podium holding a white envelope.

Pulling out ultrasound images, Riley paused, placed her hand on her stomach, and then told those gathered, “How many men do you know that have this?”

The crowd cheered.

Riley and Louis celebrated their third anniversary on May 22. Following the big reveal, Louis joined his wife on stage. 

“That is who you all are fighting for,” Louis told the crowd. “So, from a father-to-be, thank you, keep fighting – and thank you.”

Riley, who grew up in Nashville in a family of athletes and attended Donelson Christian Academy, told the crowd that even as a lifelong pro-life advocate, her pregnancy is helping to reaffirm and re-energize her perspective on the sanctity of the preborn.

“There is nothing more vulnerable than a child in the womb,” she acknowledged. “This [battle over women’s sports] isn’t a fight about hate; it’s a fight about truth. It’s not about exclusion, it’s about protection. It’s not about politics; it’s about the type of world that we’re creating for my daughter.”

She continued, “So, I’m going to keep fighting, not just, of course, as a mother or as an athlete or an activist, but now as a mother for life, for women and for my daughter.”

Interestingly, a 2024 poll from Pew Research found that 64% of women versus 61% of men believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases. More men (38%) then women (33%) expressed abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

This gender gap is driven by a variety of factors but especially the declining overall birth rate. Women, who tend to be more nurturing than men, see that proclivity towards tenderness decline when they have fewer children or no children at all.

That same Pew survey found that the more formal education a woman pursues, the more likely she is to support abortion. Yet for men, the higher the degree, the less likely they are to favor a legal right to kill the preborn.

While campaigning against a New York abortion initiative that ultimately enshrined the right to kill children in the womb, Riley urged, “If you care about women and girls. If you care about the safeguarding of children. If you care about parental rights… make sure you’re voting ‘No.’”

For years now, Gaines has been correctly alleging that the pro-abortion propaganda has been part of a broader war on women. Convincing women that their own child is a burden and impediment to their success is the ultimate attack and con job – and an evil and insidious tactic of radicals.

We celebrate with Riley and Louis, join them in praying for the continuation of a healthy pregnancy – and hope that their joy over this new life will be contagious and infectious as they cross paths with the rising generation.

Image credit: Riley Gaines / X