‘Women’s Rights’ Groups Silent on Female Athletes Seeking to Preserve Women’s Sports

Canadian cyclist Rachel McKinnon poses for a photograph before competing against the USA's
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty
Dr. Susan Berry

Some might think organizations focused on “women’s rights” or labeled “feminist” would be eager to show support for female athletes in a lawsuit challenging a policy that allows biological males to compete against women, giving them an unfair advantage.

However, neither Planned Parenthood nor the National Organization for Women (NOW) responded to Breitbart News’s attempts to reach out to them for comment on the plight of three female high school runners who have now filed a federal lawsuit that aims to safeguard fairness in women’s sports.

With the assistance of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), three high school girls in Connecticut filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), which changed its policies to allow male athletes who claim to be female to compete as girls.

“Girls deserve to compete on a level playing field,” said ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb in a statement. “Forcing them to compete against boys isn’t fair, shatters their dreams, and destroys their athletic opportunities.”

ADF filed the lawsuit on behalf of Selina Soule, Alanna Smith, and Chelsea Mitchell who have been impacted by the policy – though they are not the only young women affected by it.

As ADF noted, two biological male athletes “have taken 15 state championship titles that previously belonged to nine different girls.”

“And they have taken 17 individual meet records that previously belonged to 13 different girls,” the legal non-profit added.

Holcomb said:

Having separate boys’ and girls’ sports has always been based on biological differences, not what people believe about their gender, because those differences matter for fair competition. And forcing girls to be spectators in their own sports is completely at odds with Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics. Connecticut’s policy violates that law and reverses nearly 50 years of advances for women.

Leftwing groups promoting transgender rights groups have spread the false narrative that there is no scientific evidence suggesting biological male athletes have an unfair advantage over biological female athletes.

As Breitbart News reported, however, a recent study conducted by the Karolinska Institute and Linkoping University in Sweden found biological males — claiming to be transgender women — who were administered a full year of hormone therapy, still maintained muscle mass and strength advantages over biological women.

“Despite the robust increases in muscle mass and strength in TM, the TW were still stronger and had more muscle mass following 12 months of treatment,” the researchers observed. “These findings add new knowledge that could be relevant when evaluating transwomen’s eligibility to compete in the women’s category of athletic competitions.

“Our results indicate that after 12 months of hormonal therapy, a transwoman will still likely have performance benefits over a cis-woman [biological woman],” they concluded.

In another study published at the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and released in July, three professors — two in bioethics and one in physiology — concluded that male athletes who claim to be female hold an “intolerable” advantage over biological female athletes.

The study was conducted after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced it would allow “transgender women” to compete against biological females if their testosterone is below 10 nanomole/liter (nmol/L). However, even that level is “significantly higher” than that of biological females, the authors said.

They cited research demonstrating that “healthy young men did not lose significant muscle mass (or power) when their circulating testosterone levels were reduced” for 20 weeks to meet the IOC’s guidelines.

The researchers also noted that “indirect effects of testosterone will not be altered by hormone therapy.”

“For example, hormone therapy will not alter bone structure, lung volume or heart size of the transwoman athlete, especially if she transitions postpuberty, so natural advantages including joint articulation, stroke volume and maximal oxygen uptake will be maintained,” the authors explained.

“We conclude that the advantage to transwomen afforded by the IOC guidelines is an intolerable unfairness,” stated the professors.

When Planned Parenthood and NOW were asked – both in November 2019 and Wednesday – about whether they would support the female athletes since there are now two studies showing biological men treated with hormones still have an unfair advantage over women athletes, Breitbart News received no response.

Both organizations claim to advocate for “women’s rights,” but actually now focus primarily on “abortion rights” and appear to place gender identity above biological sex.

On its website, NOW states it is “committed to fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in all areas, including employment, housing, public accommodations, health services, child custody and military policies.”

The organization adds:

NOW is committed to educational efforts that combat the adverse effects of homophobia, promote positive images in the media and ultimately ensure civil rights protection for all. NOW asserts the right of LGBTQIA individuals to live their lives with dignity and security, and marriage equality for all.

According to Influence Watch, a project of Capital Research Center that seeks to provide “fact-based, accurate descriptions of all of the various influencers of public policy issues,” NOW “was formed to push for women’s legal and economic equality.”

However, the watchdog group says the scope of NOW’s agenda “has widened significantly to encompass all aspects of the left-of-center platform including tax and spend deficit spending to expand social programs, government funded handouts, unfettered abortions, government-controlled single-payer healthcare, and an unceasing litany of LGBT interest issues.”

When Planned Parenthood is not advocating for abortion – its major profit maker – it is condemning the Trump administration for “targeting LGBTQ rights” in its efforts “to define gender as being binary, unchangeable, and determined by one’s genitals at birth — regardless of how people identify.”

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.