Youth Blog

Jennifer Jones, widely regarded as one of the greatest female curlers of all time, was urged to abort during a knee-injury comeback. She chose her baby and still reached the top of her sport.

“All I ever wanted was to be a mom, and it didn’t come easy for me. I also wanted to be an Olympic champion. I truly believed I could be both, and no one was going to tell me otherwise.”
 — Jennifer Jones, Rock Star: My Life on and off the Ice (HarperCollins Canada, 2025)

Photo by Mike Martin Photography, Kemptville Mixed Doubles Fall Classic

 

The Set-Up: Injury, Pregnancy, and a Promise of Help

Jennifer tore her knee after a demanding season and skiing injury and moved quickly into consultations for surgery and rehabilitation. Around the same time, she learned she was pregnant, a child she deeply wanted.

Hoping to speed her recovery and reduce costs, she connected with a private support group that promised to fund her rehab, support her team, and connect her with specialists. After an optimistic phone call that seemed to lift a weight from her shoulders, she met the group’s representative in person to discuss next steps.

 

The Pressure and Jennifer’s Resolve

At the meeting, the man’s first question stunned her: “Do you plan on keeping the baby?”

Jennifer answered yes, overjoyed at her pregnancy. He responded that another athlete they had worked with had chosen abortion to prioritize her sport. It became clear that Jennifer’s own choice would not be respected.

“There I was, being judged for wanting to keep my baby. Without saying the words, I was being told it had to be one or the other. What it should have been was a celebration of someone working to become an Olympic athlete and a mother at the same time.”

She never heard from the group again, and she did not want to. Jennifer was determined to prove them wrong.

 

What Came Next

Jennifer underwent surgery, rehab, and training in 2012 while embracing motherhood. Already a world champion in 2008, she went on to win Olympic gold in 2014 as Team Canada’s skip and added another world title in 2018.

Throughout her career, she has captured six Canadian championships (Scotties Tournament of Hearts) and 17 Women’s Grand Slam of Curling titles.

Her story exposes a cruel double standard that tells women they must choose between a child and a career. Real support celebrates women as both athletes and mothers and provides the resources to help them thrive in both roles. Jennifer showed that this choice was a false one.

 

Curling Is Becoming More Family-Friendly

Curling, at least in Canada, has taken real steps toward supporting athletes who are parents. Competitive teams earn points through the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) based on their results in bonspiels and championships. These points determine eligibility for major events and can even grant direct entry into provincial and national championships.

A curling team consists of four players, and if one member leaves and is replaced by another, that team could, in theory, lose 25% of its points.

Until recently, only the top five teams in the country could add a substitute player without losing CTRS points or violating residency rules. After strong and justified backlash, Curling Canada extended parental leave benefits to all teams, allowing mothers to take time off for pregnancy and still maintain their team’s competitive standing.

This change promotes a culture of life in sport, one that says motherhood should never end an athlete’s career.

 

Women Can Do Both

I have been curling since I was seven years old and competing since I was thirteen. Jennifer Jones has always been someone I look up to. I understand what it is like to have big dreams in sports.

In college, I was on an athletic scholarship, and my team won both Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) gold and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) gold. I still compete and have goals I have not yet reached. I am not saying life with a baby would be easy, but children are a blessing. Women can do both.

Another example is Rachel Homan, one of the most accomplished curlers of this generation. She returned to competitive play just three weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Bowyn, in 2021, winning a Grand Slam title only fifty days after competing in the Scotties final while eight months pregnant. Her mom cared for Bowyn in the stands while she curled. She has since made another quick return to competition after the birth of her third child in 2023.

While some athletes require longer recovery time, which is completely valid, this may not be possible in every sport. Certain disciplines demand more physical recovery or have strict competition cycles that make quick comebacks unrealistic. Missing events or taking extended time off is sometimes part of that reality, and that is okay. But no child should ever pay with their life so that a parent can chase a medal or a career milestone. Consent to sex is consent to the possibility of getting pregnant.

True strength is not measured by how quickly a woman can return to competition, but by her courage to value both her dreams and her child’s life. That is what real empowerment looks like.

 

Choose Life

Telling a pregnant athlete to consider abortion because of a knee injury is wrong. Telling any pregnant woman to consider abortion for any reason is wrong. Success in sport, business, or any field should never require ending a child’s life.

Our culture pressures women to abandon the dream of motherhood to achieve professional success. That pressure is unjust and dehumanizing. Children are a blessing. Women can do both.

Abortion intentionally kills an innocent human being. It is not compassionate or empowering to end a child’s life for a medal, a contract, or a promotion. Real support means funding rehab, offering flexible scheduling, providing childcare and family travel accommodations, protecting maternity and postpartum time, and celebrating women as both athletes and mothers.

Jennifer Jones showed Canada that you do not have to choose. The right response to pregnancy is encouragement, resources, and respect for both mother and child.

 

 

Note: Sharing this story does not imply that Jennifer Jones is pro-life. In her book, she explicitly says she supports a woman’s “right” to abortion. We share her story to highlight that no woman should ever be told she must choose between her child and her calling.

Sources: Jennifer Jones, Rock Star: My Life on and off the Ice (HarperCollins Canada, 2025), “Downhill and Uphill,” pp. 143–145.

Curling Canada. (2023, February 2). Parental leave rules updated. Curling Canada blog. https://www.curling.ca/blog/2023/02/02/parental-leave-rules-updated