Simon Biles has disappointed some of her 6.9 million Instagram followers when during a callout for "unpopular opinions," the four-time gold medalist admitted that she was pro-choice. Her admission was not received well by conservatives and pro-lifers.
According to USA Today, Biles wrote a callout on her Instagram story to ask for "unpopular opinions," including that "abortion is wrong." The 24 year old athlete wrote in response, "I already know this is going to start the biggest argument & may even lose followers BUT I'm very much pro-choice. Your body. your choice."
Biles, a Texas native who was in the foster system as a child, added to her argument, "Also for everyone gonna say 'just put it up for adoption' it's not that easy & coming from someone who was in the foster care system."
"TRUST me foster care system is broken & it's TOUGH especially on the kids & young adults who age out & adoption is expensive...im just saying," Biles argued. She added that adoption was in fact "expensive" and warned her followers, "don't even come at me if you couldn't keep a mask on or refused to wear one."
On Tuesday, Biles took to Twitter to address her "your body, your choice post," writing, "DO NOT misconstrue my words. That is not at all what I implied."
"I did NOT say I support to abort rather than to put them through the foster care system," Biles, who has the most World gold medals with 25, argued. "What I did imply is that you should not control someone elses body/decision. Let's be real what you care about is control..."
Biles continued to say that she would continue to support foster kids as she was one of them. She also warned fake accounts to stop trying to rile her up and "twist" her words to "spew hate."
The Christian Post reported that Lila Rose, founder and president of the advocacy group Live Action, was one pro-lifer who was triggered by Biles' comments. She took to Twitter to suggest that it was "incredibly sad and awful" that someone like Biles would "wish death for other kids [because' they may face foster care."
Rose added that the "modern mindset" that Biles and many others have is "broken [and] cruel." Conservative blogger Matt Walsh, in response to Bile's Instagram post, called her a "famous quitter" after she refused to compete one of this year's Olympic competitions and a "pro-baby murder," which may have meant to refer to "murderer."
"She survived the foster care system and went on to thrive, but she'd rather the other kids be killed than given that chance. Absolutely vile. This woman is not worthy of your admiration," Walsh added in a succeeding tweet.
Another Twitter user who described herself as a "married mother of 2" also responded to Biles' post and pointed out what the gymnast seemed to say, saying "instead of fixing the foster care system or making adoption less expensive, let's just get rid of the baby."
Biles is an active supporter of Mattress Firm Foster Kids, a program that partners with 115 nonprofit organizations across 40 states to provide necessities to over 600,000 foster children. Various adoption resources offer a different estimate of adoption costs in the U.S. today.
According to Adoptions Together, the current total fee for foster care adoption as of 2019 was $10,970. AdoptUSkids.org reported that adoptive parents working with a private agency to adopt a healthy newborn or baby must be prepared to spend anywhere between $5,000 to $40,000. Meanwhile, the cost of working with an attorney and not involving an agency is about $8,000 to $40,000 and averages $10,000 to $15,000.
