• Pregnancy in Sport
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It is now widely recognised that active people have better health than those who are not active. We know that Australian people, and particularly Australian women and girls, are not as active as they should be, and so may not be as healthy as they could be. To improve this situation, government and the sports industry in Australia have been cooperating to help women and girls become more active.

Australia has also signed the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which sets out women’s fundamental human rights. As a signatory to this convention, Australia must ensure women’s equality with men, including their equal participation in sport. Both federal and state legislation in Australia make discrimination because of gender or pregnancy unlawful, including in sport.

However, the increasing participation of women in sport has given rise to specific situations that present a number of legal, medical, insurance and ethical issues. In particular, advances in medicine and shifts in social attitudes have produced the situation where more and more women are participating in sporting activities while pregnant.

When a national sporting organisation implemented an interim ban on pregnant players in June 2001, legal proceedings resulted. The ban made pregnancy in sport a focus of media attention, and also saw the Australian sports industry reconsider its attitudes to pregnant participants.

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC), with Sport Industry Australia, hosted the National Forum on Pregnancy in Sport in Sydney on 1 August 2001. Participants from all aspects of sport in Australia, including government, non-government, health, legal and industry sectors, took part. This booklet is based on the conclusions of that forum, and on other expert contributions.

Some of the most important questions raised by participants, coaches, officials, facility managers and administrators at this forum included:

• Should pregnant women participate in sport?
• If so, what health and legal implications are there for both the mothers and their unborn children?
• Should restrictions apply that determine when and in which sports they may play?
• Who should make decisions about these issues?
• What rights do pregnant athletes, their unborn children, other participants, coaches, officials, administrators and facility managers have in relation to this matter?
• How do policy makers and administrators balance these complex matters to ensure that more women participate in sport and physical activity?

As the answers to such questions often depend on the individual circumstances, this booklet cannot provide all the solutions, but it can ensure that those involved in making these decisions are better informed about this issue.

Managing pregnancy in sport in sporting organisations

The health and wellbeing of pregnant women and their unborn children is the most critical factor in all thinking about this topic, so the most important question is who should make decisions about whether and when pregnant women should play sport. In the face of any evidence to the contrary, the consensus of experts in a wide range of related fields is that pregnant sportswomen should make these decisions themselves, in consultation with their medical advisers.

All those involved in sport have certain responsibilities to other participants, such as preventing discrimination in sport and taking reasonable care to ensure the continuing safety, health and wellbeing of all participants. To assist in managing these and other responsibilities, all sporting organisations should have policies in place that clearly outline their aims in such areas, and how they will go about achieving them. These policies can help to protect participants, manage risks practically, and control insurance and legal costs, and such policies may also help to protect organisations against litigation.

A vital part of ensuring that risk is kept to an absolute minimum is education and awareness. With adequate information about the potential risks of playing sport while pregnant, women can decide whether or not to play while pregnant and, if they do play, when they should stop. As the pregnancy progresses, most women will voluntarily cut down on their level of training or competition — decisions about when and how to do this should be made by women in consultation with their medical advisers.

Sporting organisations can help by advising participants that there may be risks involved, and by advising them to obtain medical advice about those risks. Pregnant participants should be aware that their own health, and the wellbeing of their unborn children, are of utmost importance in their decision about whether to continue playing sport.