Identification
Identification involves establishing ethical issues presented in the case of the pregnant athletes’ dilemma. The case involves Fantasia Godwin, a female athlete who found herself pregnant. She is in a dilemma as to whether to tell her coach and suffer the consequence or continue playing while risking her life and that of her unborn baby.
Five ethical issues in the case
Is it right for Fantasia to hide her pregnancy and continue playing while putting the pregnancy and life at risk?
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Is it right to be silent on the issue?
Is it right for a student to have unprotected sex in the first place?
Is it right to abort to continue playing?
Is it right for female athletes to face the consequences if found pregnant?
Fantasia Godwin hiding her pregnancy for her to continue playing is the central ethical issue to be resolved because she is putting everyone at risk; the fetus, the school athletics’ department and herself. The school athletics department may be deemed liable if they are found to allow a student to play while pregnant.
Research
This part involves identifying past research that has been conducted relating to the consequences of playing sports while pregnant.
Source:
Clapp (2002) states that physical activity is an important aspect of pregnancy but should be taken with caution not to injure the unborn child. Gynecologists say that women should avoid contact sports because it may lead to pregnancy problems.
Source:
According to Longstaff (2001), some factors should be considered first to ensure the safety of the mother and fetus. The factors include the health of the mother and fetus, sports type, risk of injury and overheating risk during sport activities. During pregnancy, engaging in sports that involve physical contact are usually regarded as sage within the first trimester. However, during the progression of the pregnancy, it's advisable to play non-contact sports.
Source:
Winfree (2012) asserts that the consequences faced by pregnant female athletes makes them not tell their coaches. The author advocates for policies and measures that can protect women athletes in case they are faced with such a situation.
Source:
Evenson, Savitz, Siega-Riz, Lieferman and Thorp (2002) support the same idea as the American College that there are benefits that accrue if a person continues playing while pregnant. It helps to maintain body fitness, weight control and helps to better the athletes' mood while pregnant. The authors believe that athletes who are pregnant should not be discriminated because of their pregnancy.
Source:
As per Kremer (2016), female athletes do have an irregular menstrual cycle and thus at one point they may become pregnant. Even after becoming pregnant they should continue to train since it does not affect the fetus nor the mother. The athletes are not at any risk of problematic pregnancies or congenital disabilities if they continue to be involved in sports.
Analysis
| Stakeholders | Options | |||
| Option #1 | Option #2 | Option #3 | Option #4 | |
| Fantasia Godwin | Hide the pregnancy | Notify the team and coach | Terminate the pregnancy | Acceptance of medically redshirted |
| Syracuse women’s basketball team | Have a key player in the team and share the risk of pregnancy complication. | Lose a key player | Advise to end the pregnancy. | Keep her in the team but restrain her from engaging in sports. |
| Syracuse Athlete department | Face liability of playing a pregnant player | Terminate her scholarship. | Face the consequences if Fantasia commit abortion and fails | Decide whether to remove her from the team. |
| NCAA |
Face liability |
face any liability if abortion is successful | They are not affected in any way by the decisions. |
|
| Team Coach | Be ready to account in case of anything happens to the pregnant player in the team. | Remove her out of the team. | Advise her to have an abortion. |
|
Application
Consequential Theory
It judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based on the repercussions of the action. The action depends on obligatory, acceptance or rejection. Thus the action is right if it does not cause harm to the stakeholders and instead brings happiness to the person doing it. In the Fantasia Godwin case, the consequential theory renders her actions acceptable because the actions bring happiness to her, the team and the athletics department since she is a key player.
Non-consequential Theory
Non-consequential theory judge actions based on what is right or wrong considering the intrinsic properties of an action instead of its consequences. In the case of Fantasia Godwin, her action of continue playing was based on some things she was to stop playing immediately the athletics department realized she was pregnant. However, the benefits to her seem to outweigh the consequences involved. Thus she decides to hide and continue playing.
Decision making
Pregnant athletes should not be allowed to compete in high-intensity sports.
Evaluation and reflection
Based on the findings of the research, it is evident that different researchers support that athletes should be allowed to continue participating in sports even while pregnant. However, in their research, they agree that there is danger faced by pregnant athletes while competing. I do believe the life of the athletes and fetus supersede that of competing in sports and thus they should not put their lives in danger.
References
Clapp, J., Kim, H., Burciu, B., Schmidt, S., Petry, K., & Lopez, B. (2002). Continuing regular exercise during pregnancy: Effect of exercise volume on fetoplacental growth. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology , 186 (1), 142-147. http://dx.doi.org/10.1067/mob.2002.119109.
Evenson, K., Siega-Riz, A., Savitz, D., Leiferman, J., & Thorp, J. (2002). Vigorous leisure activity and pregnancy outcome. Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise , 34 (5), S201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00005768-200205001-01132.
Longstaff, E. (2001). Book review: Young people and social change: individualization and risk in late modernity. Youth Justice , 1 (2), 60-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/147322540100100210.
Kremer, W. 2016. Why it’s ok to run when you are pregnant . Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36402624.
Winfree, J. (2012). College athletes and NCAA violations. Criminology & Public Policy , 11 (4), 661-663. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2012.00850.x.
