Simone Biles has shared her stance on the subject of abortion, after spending a portion of her life in the foster care system.
In a post made on her official Instagram account on Monday, August 9, the 24-year-old Olympic gymnast asked her followers to submit "unpopular opinions" so she could share her stances.
Although the initial questions were on relatively benign subjects, such as condiments and Beyoncé, things took a turn when one user wrote to Biles, "abortion is wrong".
In response to this Biles shared a retort about her own personal feelings in a post made on her Instagram Stories.
Writing to her 6.9 million followers on the platform, Biles stated: "I already know this is going to start the biggest argument and may even lose followers BUT. I'm very much pro-choice. Your body. Your choice. [sic]"
She continued: "Also for everyone [who's] gonna say 'just put it up for adoption,' it's not that easy, and coming from someone who was in the foster care system TRUST me.
"Foster care system is broken and it's TOUGH. Especially on the kids and young adults who age out. And adoption is expensive … I'm just saying."
According to People magazine, Biles was indeed soon inundated with negative comments, with one person allegedly accusing her of advocating that people to get abortions rather than put their child in the foster system.
In reply to this, Biles tweeted: "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.
"What I did imply is that you should not control someone elses body/decision. Let’s be real what you care about is control. [sic]"
She added: "I have forever & will continue to support foster kids. AS I WAS ONE. I’ve been an advocate for foster kids and the system but you wouldn’t know that because you don’t follow me, you just like to open your mouth. [sic]"
Per People, Biles was placed in foster care at the age of three before she and her younger sister could be adopted by their maternal grandfather, Ron, and his wife, Nellie.
This comes not long after Biles was forced to drop out of a number of events at the Tokyo Olympics after she cited serious concerns about her own mental health and her family background.