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British Olympic Star Opts Against Having an Abortion

According to LifeNews, British hurdler Tasha Danvers-Smith had her life centered on her Olympic dream, when she was shocked to discover she was pregnant. As the unplanned pregnancy devastated her hopes, she briefly considered an abortion, before deciding that she could not kill her child.

An Olympic medal hopeful and sixth-ranked runner in the world, missing the 2004 Olympics meant more than missing a dream – it meant financial difficulty and uncertainty. "The timing could not have been worse. If I had run at Athens it would have meant greater financial security, more recognition. There is nothing negative that can happen when you have a shot at an Olympic medal," she told the Telegraph. "I cannot lie, I considered an abortion. On the one hand you look at the situation and say, 'I can have a baby and incur more costs, more problems.' We don't even have a house yet...And I am the major breadwinner." However, Danvers-Smith and her husband and coach Darrell Smith decided that life was the right choice. "But this line from the Scriptures kept coming into my head: 'For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' For me, the whole wide world was the Olympics. At the same time, I felt I would be losing my soul. So then I knew. For me it was not going to be an option. And as soon as I decided that, I felt so happy. Even though I know it is going to be a struggle financially and that I am sacrificing my medal hopes." Danvers-Smith said that watching the 2004 Olympics may be "too dreadful" to bear, "but when December comes and the baby is born, I know I will feel a lot differently."

Posted by tim at May 31, 2004 11:03 AM

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