Steph Curry disappoints some by declining to say he’s ‘pro-choice’
The ‘famously feminist’ Golden State Warriors player admits in an
interview with Rolling Stone that he has certain beliefs on abortion
‘that not everybody vibes with’
>Riley Morrison, 9, of Napa, Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry and
Vivan Wu, a senior at Oakland Technical High School, from left, all
wearing a pair of Curry’s new International Women’s Day themed Curry 6
signature shoes, stand at center court during the halftime break as the
team takes on the Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on
Friday, March 8, 2019. Morrison along with Wu were recognized by Curry
in celebration of International Women’s Day. Morrison earned widespread
attention last November when she wrote Curry a letter explaining that
she had tried to buy his Under Armour sneakers online, only to discover
that they weren’t available in girls’ sizes. Curry responded to Morrison
saying he was working with the company to change things. Curry marked
International Women’s Day by releasing his newest namesake sneaker,
which he co-designed with Morrison. Wu is the recipient of the Stephen
and Ayesha Curry Family Foundation scholarship. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News
Group)
By MARTHA ROSS | mross@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: September 13, 2022 at 11:03 a.m. | UPDATED: September 13,
2022 at 12:23 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/09/13/steph-curry-disappoints-some-by-declining-to-say-hes-pro-choice/

Steph Curry may have won lots of feminist fans for speaking out on
behalf of gender equality in sports, but some are asking how the Golden
State Warriors star can truly call himself an ally of women’s rights
when he declines to say in a new interview that he’s pro-choice or to
denounce the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“I have certain beliefs that not everybody vibes with,” Curry said in a
lengthy Rolling Stone cover story that focuses a great deal on the NBA
player’s political activism.

The abortion issue came up when he admitted that he and his wife,
Ayesha, were initially reluctant to participate in the 2020 Democratic
National Convention by taping a segment on the importance of voting.

“We weren’t sure, more so from a faith perspective, especially around
abortion,” Curry told writer Matt Sullivan. “When you endorse a
president, you have a lot of noise comin’ at you: ‘Daughter killer! Baby
killer!’ . . . That’s the fine line of knowing the beast of politics,
where, especially when we’re talking about presidential elections, being
active is more important than the understanding that, with every
candidate, there’s not a full, down-the-ballot agreement on everything
that they do.”

Curry acknowledged that he didn’t agree with every position of the 2020
Democratic party platform, apparently including the belief that every
woman should have access to safe and legal abortion and the vow to fight
to overturn federal and state laws that create barriers to reproductive
rights.

Curry then tried to explain that he considers himself “neither
pro-choice nor pro-life,” especially in light of his mother, Sonya
Curry, speaking out earlier this year about having an abortion before he
was born, Sullivan reported.

In interviews in May to promote her memoir, “Fierce Love: A Memoir of
Family, Faith, and Purpose,” Sonya Curry said she also considered having
another abortion when she was pregnant with Steph. She said she was
about to have that second abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic when
the felt “the Spirit” intercede and she realized she had to “trust God
to move forward with me having this child.”

“There could be no Stephen. If I would have gone through that there
would have been no Wardell Stephen Curry II, and ya know, God had a plan
for that child,” Sonya Curry said.

With Rolling Stone, Curry “didn’t feel an urge to speak out against the
Roe v. Wade reversal,” the writer said. Sullivan said that Curry
appeared to have “an imaginary older brother in mind.”

When Sullivan asked whether Curry’s membership in “a Pentecostal
megachurch” influenced his Christian values related to abortion, the
athlete said, “I have certain beliefs that not everybody vibes with.”

Curry then said, “As long as there’s equality, in the sense of you
having all your protections and your rights as a citizen, that should be
the very low bar for everybody to adhere to.”

Over at the feminist website Jezebel, writer Kylie Cheung raised
concerns about “the famously feminist athlete” expressing “some
unsettling, notably un-feminist takes on reproductive rights.”

Cheung suggested that Curry wants to have it both ways by saying he’s
supports equality for women while refusing to support women’s access to
abortion, at a time when pregnant women, notably women of color, “are
losing their agency, livelihood, and even their lives to abortion bans.”

“How can ‘equality’ exist in a country where state governments can force
about half the population to give birth against their will, uprooting
their lives, and — relevant to Curry’s famed advocacy for gender
equality in sports — possibly ending their athletic careers?” Cheung asked.

Curry’s reluctance to identify as “pro-choice” also runs counter to the
liberal, progressive views held by many NBA athletes, Cheung added.
Moreover, abortion rights are inseparable from racial justice, a cause
that is front and center for Curry and other NBA players, Cheung argued.
Black women face the highest rates of pregnancy complications and
maternal mortality in the United States — serious health issues that are
exacerbated by abortion bans, she said.

If nothing else, Curry’s position is hard to square with his advocacy
for gender equality in sports, Cheung said.

“As the WNBA, U.S. women’s soccer team, and women athletes around the
world have long pointed out, there’s simply no gender equality in
sports, or anywhere, without abortion rights,” Cheung said.

In the comments section for Cheung’s essay, people debated Curry’s
abortion comments. One person said Curry’s comments made them wonder if
his advocacy for women in sports is “performative.”

Someone else said it’s not surprising that Curry holds such views, given
his background and religious faith. Someone added that it’s “quite
plausible” that Curry genuinely cares about equal opportunities for
women but “has also been indoctrinated into the religious dogma that
personhood begins at conception, which makes him conflicted about abortion.”

Someone else suggested that the athlete can still call himself
“pro-choice” if he “personally dislikes abortion but supports full
bodily autonomy.” This person said, “I think it’s reductive to argue,
‘Well, he’s not pro-choice, so all his other advocacy for women must
just be lip service for PR.’”

A couple of others said that Curry can’t truly say he supports women’s
rights if he doesn’t think a woman should have a right to control if and
when she will have children.

“It does mean that his feminism is incomplete at best,” one person said.
“You don’t get to call yourself a feminist if you don’t think women
should have the fundamental human right to control their own bodies.”

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Martha Ross | Features writer
Martha Ross is a features writer who covers everything and anything
related to popular culture, society, health, women’s issues and families.