Olympic Track Star Sanya Richards-Ross Opens Up about Her Abortion

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Jun 07, 2017

Olympic Track Star Sanya Richards-Ross Opens Up about Her Abortion

Olympic track star Sanya Richards-Ross recently revealed that she had an abortion before the 2008 Olympic Games. Richards-Ross hopes that telling her story will save other women from the heartache she experienced.

In her new memoir Chasing Grace, Richards-Ross explains why she felt abortion was the only option:

"The culmination of a lifetime of work was right before me," the now 32-year-old writes. "In that moment, it seemed like no choice at all. The debate of when life begins swirled through my head, and the veil of a child out of wedlock at the prime of my career seemed unbearable. What would my sponsors, my family, my church, and my fans think of me?"

She and her fiance Aaron Ross, who is now her husband, decided to go through with the decision to abort.

"He was there for me as much could be," Richards-Ross said in an interview with Sports Illustrated Now on Tuesday. "But it was something that we kind of never talked about. It was almost like, if we don't talk about it, it didn't happen. ... For so much of my relationship, I felt I experienced it by myself. And so when Ross and I finally dealt with it, I was able to see his hurt."

Despite the appearance of strength and success among so many athletes, Richards-Ross said many have similar stories of heartache.

"I'm hoping that this will open up some discussions to helping especially a lot of young women who were in my situation not experience what I did," she said.

 

Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Publication date: June 7, 2017



Olympic Track Star Sanya Richards-Ross Opens Up about Her Abortion