BETHESDA, Md. – Mariah Stackhouse was in the middle of her second round at the KPMG Women’s PGA when news broke that the Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that had given women the constitutional right to have an abortion in the United States for nearly 50 years. The decision is now up to individual states.
Like the rest of the country, reactions from LPGA players competing at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – on the outskirts of Washington at Congressional Country Club – were mixed.
Stackhouse exhaled deeply before sharing her thoughts on the court’s 6-3 vote to uphold Mississippi’s law banning most abortions after 15 weeks.
“It’s incredibly disheartening that in 2022, women’s rights are being taken away,” said Stackhouse. “With the makeup of everything right now, the makeup of the court, I just don’t really see a brighter side. You’ve got to hope that there’s still some fight left in us, and we can figure this out as a country.”
Amy Olson described the moment as huge and said one of the fundamental responsibilities of government is to protect human lives.
“Now states have the opportunity to protect every life,” said Olson. “They haven’t had the option to do that in almost 50 years.
“For those who say this hurts women, my question to them is — when does a woman’s life begin? If we can’t answer that question, how can we even have a conversation about women’s rights?”
Muni He, a U.S.-based player who was born in China and played collegiately at USC, took to Instagram to voice her frustrations.
“I simply do not understand how this is happening in our world, our country today,” He wrote. “I feel nothing but pure rage and sadness. Sick to my stomach.”
Fellow USC grad Allisen Corpuz was also disappointed to hear the court’s decision.
“I just think it’s really disappointing,” said Corpuz. “As a woman, I think it’s part of women’s healthcare just to have the right to your own body. It just feels like there’s been a lot of progress made … even going into pretty recent history of women getting the right to vote. It just kind of feels like we’re taking a step backwards.”
Katherine Kirk said she wasn’t surprised by the ruling.
“From a constitutional standpoint,” Kirk told Golfweek, “there are no provisions for abortion and the justices obviously wanted to uphold that. As a Christian, I believe all lives are important and, regardless where you stand, the Supreme Court didn’t make abortion illegal today, they simply gave the power to states to decide.”