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US Women's Soccer player Alex Morgan is expecting her first baby and fighting for equal pay.
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Pregnant Alex Morgan Is Fighting For Equal Pay So Her Daughter Won't Have To

U.S. Women's soccer player and all-around badass Alex Morgan is expecting her first baby in April 2020, and impending motherhood has already put a few things into perspective for the decorated olympian. Morgan's pregnancy has "validated" her equal pay fight, she says, because she wants her daughter to live in a world where moms and dads make the same amount of money for the same work. What a concept.

Morgan and other members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer team have been embroiled in a fight for equal pay with their employer, the United States Soccer Federation, since 2017. Morgan and three of her teammates, including Megan Rapinoe, are the class representatives in the class-action suit for the team trying to ensure that their working conditions and compensation are commensurate with the men's team, as per Bloomberg.

Considering the U.S. Women's National Soccer team won its fourth gold medal in the 2019 World Cup this summer — more than any other women's team in history — the argument for equal pay should be pretty cut-and-dry. It has not been. The women continue to fight for their rights to equal pay. And Alex Morgan recently told E! News that her pregnancy has her doubling down on her conviction to stay the course.

The fight for equal pay stretches far beyond the pitch, especially when moms earn approximately 73.3% of what fathers earn, and single mothers earn 70.1% of what single fathers earn. Icon Sportswire/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

As Morgan explained to the media outlet during a Powerade event on Wednesday, "Having a daughter on the way really validates everything that I'm fighting for. It really makes me feel like I really am truly setting up the next generation for even greater success than we're able to attain."

Now that Morgan is preparing to add "mom" to her already long list of titles, her fight for equal pay should feel even more prescient, especially since moms earn less than dads pretty much across the board, according to research from the Institute for Women's Policy Research shared by Industry Week. Married moms earn approximately 73.3% of what fathers earn, while single mothers earn 70.1% of what single fathers earn. Which means the fight for equal pay stretches far beyond the pitch and the world of women's soccer. This is especially true for moms of color.

Morgan and her husband of five years, professional soccer player Servando Carrasco, shared the exciting news that they are expecting their first child via Instagram on Oct. 23. They even shared the baby's approximate due date, April 2020, and the sex of the baby in their announcement, writing, "We are already in love and we haven’t even met her yet. Newest member of the Carrasco family, coming soon."

Alex Morgan's fight for equal pay with her teammates was an important one way before she discovered she was expecting a baby girl, and it would have remained important if she didn't decide to become a mother. We know this, of course. But the reality is that becoming a mother does often make a person's thoughts of the future crystallize in a way that can be tough to convey. You want better things for your kids. You want to make the world better for your kids.

And you want to fight to make sure they won't have to. For equal pay and everything else under the sun. This is parenthood.