Megan Rapinoe: US Womens star hits out at supreme court ruling on abortion

USA Women football captain Megan Rapinoe has called on American men to 'stand up' to stop the 'violent and consistent onslaught on the autonomy of women's bodies' following the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday.

The court voted 5-4 in favour of overturning the historic Roe v. Wade ruling, which has existed for 50 years, in a move that is likely to result in a ban on abortions across half of America's 50 states.

US Womens captain Megan Rapinoe David Vincent/AP

The 36-year-old veteran spoke ahead of Saturday's friendly with Colombia.

Rapinoe got emotional as she seemingly fought back tears in her pre-match press conference, while putting the blame for the decision squarely on American men as well as the power structure within the country.

Rapinoe, who is also an outspoken advocate for women and LGBTQ groups, men have enjoyed privilege in the US while allowing women to shoulder the burden of this fight against abortion restrictions.

'I should not be the loudest voice in the room,' Rapinoe said. 'No woman should be the loudest voice in the room. This is what allyship looks like. This is what, frankly, doing the right thing looks like.

'If not for men, we would have none of these laws, we would have none of the inequality in terms of gender rights and this onslaught on abortion rights, none of this would be happening,' she continued. 'We did not do this ourselves.' she said.

Megan Rapinoe is a former Ballon d'Or winner AFP

'And I would take it personally, what I'm saying, as an accusation, as a come-to-Jesus moment, as a 'look in the mirror, you are complicit in all of this.'

'We clearly cannot do this on our own, with the composition of the power structure in our country,'

'And frankly, that falls on you.' she told reporters, as quoted by Yahoo! Sports' Henry Bushnell.

The US Supreme Court on Friday had overturned Roe v. Wade, stripping away the country's half-century-old constitutional protections for abortions.

The decision is also expected to lead to a flurry of abortion bans across conservative-leaning states in the US.

Rapinoe also described the recent ruling as the US government's attempt to spread a belief structure that is 'deeply rooted in white supremacist, patriarchal Christianity.'

'I just can't understate how sad and how cruel this is,' she said. 'I think the cruelty is the point, because this is not pro-life, by any means.'

Megan Rapinoe GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA

The former Ballon d'Or winner, also admitted she was "scared" for her future after Justice Clarence Thomas called for further consideration of Lawrence v. Texas, which protects the right to same-sex romantic relationships, and Obergefell v. Hodges, which allows same-sex marriage.

Rapinoe is currently engaged to professional basketball player, Sue Bird.