How Napheesa Collier is combating to advertise contraception entry within the U.S

Napheesa Collier is a perennial WNBA MVP candidate, the co-founder of a skilled sports activities league — and, an advocate for girls’s reproductive well being and contraception entry.

Collier, the cornerstone of the Minnesota Lynx franchise, is partnering with Opill, a nonprescription contraception capsule that helps forestall being pregnant. Reproductive well being — and entry to contraception — is a trigger that has lengthy been close to and expensive to Collier’s coronary heart; now, she’s chosen to leverage her platform as a WNBA famous person to advocate for it.

“I’ve at all times been actually obsessed with reproductive well being and girls’s choices in terms of that,” Collier advised SB Nation. “That is only a excellent partnership for that. It’s actually vital to tell individuals about their reproductive well being and their contraceptive choices.”

For many People, medical health insurance drastically eliminates monetary boundaries to contraceptive entry, however greater than 19 million ladies within the U.S. reside in “contraceptive desserts” the place they won’t have entry to a well being heart providing contraception. Non-public medical health insurance firms will not be at the moment required to cowl over-the-counter merchandise, so plans usually don’t.

The 2024 Defensive Participant of the 12 months will start a multi-year partnership with Opill to be able to make sure that younger ladies throughout the nation know the contraception choices which might be accessible to them, no matter the place they reside. Opill is the primary FDA-approved, prescription-free day by day contraception capsule within the U.S. meant to make sure that the numerous people who don’t have common entry to contraception are in a position to change that.

Collier stated she acknowledges that conversations about contraception and reproductive healthcare can typically be stigmatized, however that it’s one thing she needs to alter.

“My mother was a nurse, and I grew up in a family the place we had open conversations about our physique, and I wasn’t afraid to ask her something. And I really feel like that’s not precisely how all people feels right now,” Collier stated.

Collier will spend time touring and visiting totally different universities to speak with college students about contraception entry and accessible choices. The total checklist of faculties that the 4x All-Star might be talking with isn’t but public, however she stated appears ahead to the chance to speak with college students about Opill, and its accessibility. The day by day oral contraceptive may be bought on-line and at most main retailers for $19.99 a month, and $89.99 for six months.

“I need individuals to know what is accessible to them — and Opill is such an amazing choice for that. It’s so accessible, it’s so reasonably priced, and it’s actually efficient,” Collier stated. “So, I’m actually excited to associate with somebody like them that hits all these areas, and to simply speak a little bit bit in regards to the stigma in terms of these matters.”

Collier, who’s 28 years outdated, graduated from the College of Connecticut in 2019. She has a 2-year-old daughter, Mila, and is now married to basketball abilities coach Alex Bazzell. She’s additionally the co-founder of Unequalled, a brand new skilled 3-on-3 ladies’s basketball league that’s launching in January.

Photograph by Meng Dingbo/Xinhua by way of Getty Photographs

“I really feel like I’m nonetheless college-aged, so it’s bizarre,” Collier stated of being within the place to impression school college students.

She appears ahead to the chance to take action.

“It’s simply going to be a very open dialogue,” Collier stated. “Initially, informing them about Opill and the way it differs from different beginning controls, how accessible it’s. You may get it at your native drug shops. You don’t want a prescription for it. After which, answering any questions and attempting to interrupt down the stigma if that is an embarrassing matter, as a result of I don’t assume it needs to be. I feel it needs to be an open dialog.”

Napheesa Collier’s advocacy is a part of the WNBA’s broader tradition

Collier’s determination to get intimately concerned with the difficulty of contraception entry falls according to the WNBA’s lengthy historical past of advocacy. All through the league’s 27-year historical past, gamers have constantly banded collectively to handle a slew of matters, together with racism, police brutality, gender equality, and extra.

The Atlanta Dream endorsed Reverend Raphael Warnock within the Georgia Senate election in 2020, and have been credited with being a giant a part of his victory. That election stood out specifically given the truth that Warnock’s Republican opponent, Kelly Loeffler, was a co-owner of the Dream on the time — and an outspoken critic of gamers’ determination to advancing the Black Lives Matter motion.

Since Collier was drafted by the Minnesota Lynx because the No. 6 decide within the 2019 draft, she’s been part of a league largely characterised by its advocacy efforts. WNBA gamers devoted the 2020 season to Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black lady who was killed by police in her dwelling. Gamers have additionally routinely spoken out on points associated to LGBTQ+ rights and voting entry all through the years.

“I feel we’re only a group — which I’m so grateful to be a part of — of actually sturdy ladies who consider in one thing,” Collier stated. “We’re gonna do what we are able to to create a change, to create consciousness.”

The league shaped a Social Justice Council in 2020, and in 2021, the WNBA gamers’ union publicly declared their opposition to Texas 6-week abortion ban in a full-page advert within the New York Instances. There have been numerous examples all through the years of gamers taking a stand on controversial matters.

“Abortion, contraception, and fertility care are very important — not only for athletes who can get pregnant, however for all households and gender identities,” the WNPBA’s advert learn.

That’s simply how the WNBA has at all times been.

“We’re simply actually vocal in regards to the issues that we obsessed with,” Collier stated. “I’m actually grateful to be part of such a collective like that. That’s sort of simply a part of the DNA of the W. Folks affiliate with us social points, and talking out or up for issues that we really feel strongly about. It’s a very empowering factor to be part of.”

For Collier, proper now contraception entry is a type of points — and as she gears as much as go to colleges to speak with college students about Opill and what their decisions are, she’s grateful to be able of affect, and to likelihood the possibility to compete amongst friends who’ve already laid the muse for taking motion.

“I’m grateful that I do have a platform the place I’m in a position to to speak about issues which might be vital to me, to speak about these stigma, to tell individuals about their reproductive well being,” Collier stated. “Greater than something, I’m simply grateful that I’ve a platform the place I’m in a position to try this.”