American allies and the UN have condemned the SCOTUS decision,
It is perfectly understandable if the United States Olympic Committee and the backers of Salt Lake City’s bid for either the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics are in damage control with the two bodies seeking ways to get around the global criticism of taking away abortion rights in many states and still land either of those events. The United States usually does the condemning of the taking away of human rights in Olympics’ bidding. Just look at China and the 2022 Olympics when no official American delegation attended the Beijing Games because of human rights abuses in China. Now, health groups and American allies are criticizing the Supreme Court. The United Nations said in a statement that data showed “restricting access to abortion does not prevent people from seeking abortion, it simply makes it more deadly.” The UN statement is important. The International Olympic Committee has permanent observer status at the United Nations.
Canada, England and France were all critical of the Supreme Court ruling. The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the decision “horrific” while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will never be confused with a liberal, said the decision was “a big step backwards.” The IOC probably should be bracing for podium protests at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics by not only American athletes but women athletes from around the global and that might be in direct conflict with Rule 50 which says “participants may showcase ‘expressions’ on the field of play prior to the competition as long as they are consistent with Olympic principles and rules, not targeted against people or their nations, and not disruptive.” Some women athletes and perhaps some men as well are not going to be too worried about Rule 50, there are bigger things in life than Rule 50.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
