Becky Sauerbrunn thanks U.S. Soccer for taking a stand on abortion and gun violence

“That’s something that we’ve been asking of them for a very long time,” the U.S. women's team's veteran captain said. "It’s good to see that they’re really starting to take a side."

U.S. women's soccer team captain Becky Sauerbrunn (front row, center) held up a rainbow-themed pennant to honor Pride Month at Saturday's game.Read moreDavid Zalubowski / AP

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published June 26, 2022, 4:02 p.m. ET

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Soccer Federation has a long history of encouraging national players to speak up on issues beyond the field. But this month, the governing body itself has waded into the fray in bigger-than-usual ways.

On June 5, before the senior men’s team’s game against Uruguay, U.S. Soccer issued a statement calling on Congress to enact stronger gun control legislation.

Then on Saturday, there was a statement before the women’s team’s game vs. Colombia condemning the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which ended the nationwide legality of abortion. This followed the women’s team’s social media accounts posting a video of Megan Rapinoe’s remarks on the news the day before.

“The Supreme Court ruling on June 24 is counter to the freedoms promised as a nation and as a people,” the statement read in part. “U.S. Soccer will advocate at every opportunity for human rights, including the right to make personal healthcare decisions as there is no equality without bodily autonomy.”

In addition, the senior men’s and women’s teams have worn rainbow-colored jersey numbers in their games in June for Pride Month, continuing a recent tradition; and at those games, there’s been a message on the video board encouraging voting.

None of these statements were addressed from the players, or the managers, or president Cindy Cone. They came from the governing body an institution, with posts on U.S. Soccer’s official social media channels.

Why has the federation put itself out there this way? There’s been no official word yet, but there are plenty of signs, from Cone’s re-election earlier this year to new people joining the board of directors.

And in talking to lots of people around U.S. Soccer, from players to coaches to staff, there’s simply a lot of emotion — on the record and off it — about the state of things these days.

U.S. women’s team captain Becky Sauerbrunn has taken notice. After Saturday’s 3-0 win over Colombia, she said appreciates what she has seen.

“That’s something that we’ve been asking of them for a very long time,” said Sauerbrunn, who in addition to being a national team veteran serves on the Athlete Council that is the players’ voice in governance matters.

“And so, yes, I think when there are these big social issues, and your players of the federation are affected, that you support them, and you shield them,” Sauerbrunn said. “I think that’s what they did with the gun violence [statement], and today with the statement about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. So there’s progress — there’s always more progress to be made, but first steps are always good, and it’s good to see that they’re really starting to take a side.”

She also said women’s team players worked with U.S. Soccer on the Roe v. Wade statement.

“Anyone looking at this team knows what we support,” Sauerbrunn said. “We are against the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and we wanted the Federation to back us and to really support us on this. So I’m glad they put out a statement.”

As Sauerbrunn spoke with the media, the subject came up of whether national teams should play in states with laws that are discriminatory, or harmful in other ways the players and staff don’t like.

Her answer echoed something Rapinoe said the day before: that if the team was to make that choice, it would excessively limit the places where they play.

“We’re going to be playing in states where people won’t be able to access abortion,” she said. “It’s definitely crushing, and with the federation we hope that the states that we go to, we can continue to use our platform, and really to push for change and to educate and elevate and bring awareness.”

The players have done so for a long time, amid all their supporters and all their critics, and they have no plans to stop.

“I hope we have allies everywhere,” Sauerbrunn said. “I hope it inspires people to vote more, I hope it inspires the people that we did vote for to do more. There’s a lot of work to be done, and as this team always knows, there’s always significance in the fight, and we’re always going to fight — and we hope that we inspire other people to fight as well.”