Level the Playing Field

In partnership with

It’s time to create a world where women in sports—and all women—can compete, thrive, and plan their futures on their terms and without compromise.

See the research

Being an athlete requires ambition, focus, and drive. For women in sports, the pursuit of excellence often overshadows everything else. But thriving in your sport—or any career—shouldn’t mean compromising your future family-building.

This February, for National Girls & Women in Sports Month, we’re celebrating the strength and ambition of women athletes while highlighting an often-overlooked aspect of their journey: fertility. Normalizing conversations about reproductive health and breaking the stigma surrounding proactive fertility care is essential to ensuring women in sports—and all women—can thrive in both their careers and their personal lives.

In partnership with &Mother, a nonprofit breaking barriers for women in sports and motherhood, we’re working to create a world where women can plan their futures on their own terms, without compromise.

Our latest research dives into the realities of fertility and family planning for women athletes—what they know, what they wish they knew, and how we can better support them. Scroll down to explore the key findings and join the conversation. Together, we can redefine what it means to level the playing field.

Ashlyn Harris

"Every athlete knows the power of preparation-training for the next game, the next challenge, the next victory. But preparation isn’t just about sport; it’s about life. Women shouldn’t have to choose between building a career they love and a family they dream of. Reproductive freedom means giving athletes the knowledge, resources, and choices they need to plan their futures—so they can chase their goals without compromise. Because true equality isn’t just about competing at the highest level, it’s about having the power to shape our own paths, in sport and beyond."

2x World Champion & WSF Board

Alysia Montaño

“For too long women have faced innumerable barriers to their successes in their careers and in their motherhood. In sports where your body is quite literally your business, women have been penalized for also choosing motherhood. Motherhood should not be a barrier to how successful you can be in your career, your career should not be a barrier to how successful you can be in your motherhood. This campaign speaks volumes to the support and resources athletes need to help level the playing field, extend their careers, and provide psychological safety while supporting their abilities to thrive as mothers too. If we can break these barriers in sports we can do it for all mothers and for those who believe in the freedom of choice.”

Olympic Bronze Medalist

Missy Franklin

"Having been born through surrogacy and then becoming a professional athlete myself, I felt so moved and called to join as a Level Playing Field advocate to emphasize the importance of reproductive freedom for women athletes and beyond. Every women deserves the opportunity to become a mother AND continue to excel in their career, and I am honored to be a part of a campaign that encourages all women to plan their own futures on their own terms without compromise."

5x Olympic Gold Medalist

Chelsea Sodaro

"As an athlete who chose to start a family at the height of my professional career, I know how hard it is to navigate pregnancy, a postpartum body, and all of the challenges that come with being a new mom. I believe in more education and opportunity for women in sport. As female athletes, our peak playing years often overlap with our childbearing years. We shouldn't have to compromise family or career when we have the right resources and support. More than anything, I want my daughter and her generation to have family planning options and job security if and when they choose motherhood."

Ironman World Champion

Carly Patterson

"Experiencing infertility and miscarriage was one of the toughest seasons of my life. It opened my eyes to the silent struggles so many women face, especially those who have devoted their lives to sports. That's why this initiative matters. It’s about raising awareness, advocating for change, and ensuring that women athletes and beyond have the support, resources, and knowledge they need when it comes to their reproductive health. No woman should have to feel alone in this journey, and I’m proud to be part of something that's working to level the playing field in more ways than one."

Olympic Gymnastics Champion

Mallory Weggemann

“As a female athlete it long felt that retirement and motherhood were synonymous, add into it navigating through the realities that come with infertility and I felt isolated. When I began our first IVF cycle I felt the weight of what it meant for our families journey, while also feeling the pressure for what it meant for my athletic career. Asking my body to carry the demands of two very different journeys – of being a professional athlete and navigating through IVF. I fought to not only maintain National team status through IVF, but continue competing. I competed at National Championships at 26 weeks pregnant. And ultimately as I sat atop the Paralympic podium in Paris winning my 4th career Gold I did so looking to our 17-month-old daughter. That moment was my chance as her mom to show her that motherhood is a comma, not a period.”

Para Swimming Gold Medalist

Temeka Zore

“Reproductive health awareness is more than just understanding pregnancy. It is about having access to knowledge for every stage in a woman’s life that can shape not only our physical health, but our entire well-being. Our female athletes, and all women, deserve that.”

OBGYN/ REI, NCAA All-American

Gwen Jorgensen

"As a female athlete our time is limited. Our prime years as an athlete are also our prime childbearing years. There are so many barriers females have to hurdle, and fertility is yet another. It is time to help female athletes know they have options when it comes to fertility and sport."

Olympic Triathlon Champion

Margueritte Aozasa

"As a community, we don't talk enough about the time, effort, and energy it takes to support mothers as they pursue their dreams and careers on the field. I am a great beneficiary of such support and I feel empowered by the people and infrastructure around me. I hope those in the sports world who wish to start a family have access to education and sound family planning solutions to actively pursue greatness as mothers and athletes."

NCAA Women’s Soccer Coach

Nikole ‘Nikki’ Barnes

"We shouldn’t have to choose between our careers and our athletic career. I had my son during one of my Olympic training cycles and now I plan to have my second child after the next Olympic cycle. With more information on these subjects I hope other female athletes don’t feel the pressure to choose one over the other… they should be able to do both within their own timing!”

Olympic Sailor

Maria Sharapova

Tennis Champion, Entrepreneur

Alexi Pappas

"My hope is that the next generation of women athletes have the freedom and power to chase their dreams on their own terms."

Olympian, Filmmaker, Actor

Molly Huddle

“As a female athlete one of the biggest stressors during my career was family planning and navigating the overlap between peak years of performance and childbearing. I wondered how long my window was for each, and which of the limited amount of opportunities I should give up in order to make sure I didn’t “run out of time”. I wish for women athletes to have more readily available guidance and resources around this issue and hope for more conversations, options, role models and less tension felt between these two amazing things your body can do.”

2x Olympic Runner

Katie Zaferes

“My hope is for female athletes to not feel like they are going into uncharted territory when they decide to start a family and continue their athletic career. I look forward to continued growth in resources and support to help guide athletes into motherhood and continuing to compete at the highest levels to make the transitions as supported as possible in an already challenging transition.”

Olympian and World Champion

Jasmine Todd

“Today we are seeing women’s sports transcend into new levels. We aren’t where we should be, but we are starting to move in the right direction and I hope we continue the conversations/open dialogue of family planning for women while competing at the highest levels.”

Sprinter, Jumper, Medalist

Jenny Mosser

"This initiative matters to me because it gives me the freedom and flexibility to pursue what matters most to me, my career as a professional volleyball player and having a family. I now have the ability to reach my fullest potential as an athlete without worrying if I will miss my opportunity to have a family. Because of this, I will forever be grateful to Cofertility for allowing me to choose both."

Cofertility Split Member

Samantha Bosco

"I want present and future generations of female athletes to have more power in choosing how their future looks, on their terms."

Paralympic Cycling Medalist

Malindi Elmore

"I retired from competitive running in 2012 because I didn’t see a way that I could fulfill my dreams of being an athlete and a mom. After six years of difficulty conceiving and three miscarriages, what mattered most to me in the world was having healthy children, and they are everything to me now. I never imagined one day I could have it all: healthy children and a return to the Olympics with them cheering at the finish line. There is still not enough resources, support, information and funds available for women trying to navigate both worlds but hopefully this will continue to improve and we will no longer have to decide between two of the most important parts of our lives: our dreams of athletics and our dreams of parenting

Olympic Runner

Alison Tetrick

"As a professional athlete, I wish I had access to resources like these earlier in my career. It wasn’t until Allyson Felix brought attention to fertility and family planning at a Team USA meeting that I realized how overlooked these issues were. This campaign matters because no woman should have to choose between her career and her future family—and now, athletes and professionals alike have the support they deserve."

Champion Cyclist

Lisa Roman

“There are so many things I know now that I wish I knew while I was an athletes regarding women's fertility."

Olympic Gold Medalist Rower

Jessica Heims

"Female athletes are often left in the dark when it comes to their choices outside of their sports. The next generation of women deserves to be educated on their decisions for fertility and family planning."

Paralympic Track & Field Star

Sarah Newberry Moore

"Pro female athletes shouldn’t have to choose between their career and starting a family. Our male counterparts certainly don’t have to make this choice. I want to be part of building a future in which female athletes’ careers can be as long and successful as possible… and certainly not limited by lack of reproductive choices. If athletes have access to education and family planning options starting from an early stage, I see the potential for women in sports to play freer, harder, and longer in their sport. This future—one in which female athletes’ careers can be as long and successful as possible—is what I dream of building for my children."

American Sailor and Olympian

Kristen Kelman

"While choosing to be an athlete is easy, choosing to become an athlete who is also a mom is full of complex challenges. Navigating my sport while working through three miscarriages and now with a beautiful baby has been at times lonely, upsetting, depressing, and also full of joy, insight, and optimism. The availability of support, information, and choice makes balancing athleticism and motherhood easier and more enjoyable."

Ultramarathon Runner

Maya Satya Reddy

"I am a queer woman of color and athlete and having a son has been the biggest joy of my life, and the hardest thing in the world. I am so lucky my co-parent and I were able to access fertility treatments – and yet many parents don’t have this privilege. When you add in the immense scrutiny athletes’ bodies are under with the lack of support for parents especially queer parents - it all feels impossible. All athletes playing in women’s sports deserve to choose parenthood without feeling like we have to sacrifice our athletic careers – our dreams, that we’ve hoped and worked for. Our dreams of having families and our athletic careers should not be mutually exclusive."

Former Professional Golfer

Laura King

"I wish there had been more education (and studies, really) around how fertility can be affected after years of endurance sports. I also wish there was a destigmatization of visiting a fertility clinic. It's not a last resort, it's important to visit and gain knowledge of your body and your situation to be empowered for future decision making!"

Cyclist, Ironman Athlete

Jennifer Wilder

"Any woman that wants to become a mother should be given every chance to make it happen. Women are incredible- we're capable of balancing a career, athletics, and having a family, but oftentimes our chance to 'have it all' is taken away from us due to timing. All we need are resources and we can make that dream happen."

Runner & Triathlete

Jennifer Martins

"Family planning was never part of the conversation when I trained with Team Canada. When the 2020 Olympics were postponed, I found myself facing the difficult choice of delaying my dreams of starting a family. It took strength to take time away from training to freeze my eggs, and it shouldn’t have been that hard. Every woman deserves the freedom to plan her family without sacrificing her career. No one should have to fight for that."

Olympic Rower

Taylor Colantonio

"As a former Division 1 student-athlete, I’ve learned the importance of advocating for yourself on and off the field. Now, I want to empower the next generation to advocate for their future families by understanding the power of fertility education. Knowledge is the first step toward creating a future you can choose."

Former Collegiate Soccer Star

We surveyed hundreds of women athletes to get their unique perspectives on their careers, fertility, and motherhood— here’s what we learned

Enter your email to see more data and download the full report

"*" indicates required fields

Share to donate

For every post in February that tags @freezebyco, @andmother_org, and uses #LevelThePlayingField, we’ll donate $1* to &Mother, an incredible organization dedicated to breaking the barriers that limit a woman’s choice to pursue and thrive in both career and motherhood. View these templates on Instagram, here.

Make a donation directly to &Mother

Donate now

About

Cofertility is committed to making fertility care more accessible and equitable through our egg sharing program, where women can freeze their eggs at no cost when they donate half the eggs retrieved to a family that can’t otherwise conceive.

Visit Cofertility.com

About

&Mother is a non-profit organization that aims to support women in their careers, motherhood, and sports. Founded by Olympian Alysia Montaño, &Mother is dedicated to breaking the barriers that limit a woman’s choice to pursue and thrive in both career and motherhood.

Visit andmother.org

Our partners

It's time to level the playing field

Empower your future. Champion gender equity. Redefine what it means to thrive in sports and life.

*For every unique user who posts on Instagram and tags @freezebyco, @andmother_org, and #LevelthePlayingField in Feb 2025 (through Feb 28 at 11:59pm ET), we’ll donate $1 to &Mother up to $2,500. Posts must be publicly available.

Follow the campaign and join the conversation