The Utah Royals girls’s professional soccer crew has not even began taking part in of their new league, however the crew is already stirring controversy by asserting that it’ll pay for all out-of-state abortions for crew members and staffers.
The Royals are set to change into one of many NWSL’s new growth groups, as crew quantity 13, and can begin taking part in in 2024 within the southern suburb of Sandy, Utah, at America First Credit score Union Subject. The announcement is about to deliver girls’s professional soccer again to Utah for the primary time since 2020, when the Royals shut down and transferred all belongings to the Kansas Metropolis Present.
However earlier than the primary objective is even scored, the Royals are kicking up controversy by asserting a brand new abortion coverage.
“For all employees enrolled in our benefits plan, we have had a policy in place where if there is a medical procedure that is not provided in the state of Utah, we will provide a reimbursement of up to $4,000 toward travel and lodging costs,” a membership spokesman mentioned in an announcement, in accordance with KSL.com.
“It’s something that we look at not only for expansion teams but for our incumbent teams. And we have various markets where women’s health and medical rights and resources are compromised and limited that it’s our responsibility at the league office to the extent permitted by law to provide tools and resources for our players to have their medical needs met,” Commissioner Jessica Berman added.
“We have those safety nets and systems in place through the league office where players can have their medical needs addressed even if they have to leave the market, and we are here to support them to the extent that’s necessary. And we know that the ownership group here is aligned to ensure that that’s the case,” Berman continued.
The announcement comes on the heels of latest state legal guidelines which have been put in place over the previous few years that put heavy restrictions on abortion.
Final March, as an illustration, with Gov. Spencer Cox signaling that he would signal the invoice, the legislature handed a regulation successfully banning abortion clinics within the Beehive State.
State lawmakers additionally handed a invoice to make abortions of infants with Down Syndrome unlawful and a regulation to make abortion unlawful after 18 weeks of being pregnant. And final 12 months, they handed a regulation that solely a physician can carry out an abortion, which precludes abortion clinics that not often have full medical doctors concerned in such procedures.
The restrictions have angered left-wing abortion supporters.
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