Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, reaction has been understandably emotional on all sides of the issue. Seemingly everyone has spoken out, and that now includes Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, also the former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, an NFL quarterback from 1987-2000, and the brother of Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.
Per the Detroit Catholic publication, Harbaugh and his wife, Sarah, were speakers last Sunday at the Plymouth Right to Life event at the Inn at St. John’s, designed to raise money for pro-life charities and programs in Michigan.
“In God’s plan, each unborn human truly has a future filled with potential, talent, dreams and love,” Harbaugh said during his speech, via Kirkland Crawford of the Detroit Free Press. “I have living proof in my family, my children, and the many thousands that I’ve coached that the unborn are amazing gifts from God to make this world a better place. To me, the right choice is to have the courage to let the unborn be born.”
“I believe in having the courage to let the unborn be born,” Harbaugh continued. “I love life. I believe in having a loving care and respect for life and death. My faith and my science are what drives these beliefs in me.”
Harbaugh was unconcerned about the idea that his stance might affect his ability to recruit players.
“During halftime of a game, talking with the players, I say they are here because they have chosen to be here. If someone believes in what they stand for, they are choosing to stand for that position, and what kind of person are you if you don’t fight tooth and nail for what you stand for? You get to change hearts by fighting for what you stand for.”
Harbaugh then said that if the rights of the mother and the rights of the child conflict, the choice should be in favor of the child.
“Passions can make the process messy, but when combined with respect, it ultimately produces the best outcomes,” Harbaugh concluded, bringing his faith in line with his own version of how the government and the courts should handle this. “This process has been passionate and messy, but I have faith in the American people to ultimately develop the right policies and laws for all lives involved. I recognize one’s personal thinking regarding morality of a particular action may differ from their thinking on whether government should make that action illegal. There are many things one may hold to be immoral, but the government appropriately allows because of some greater good or personal or constitutional right.”
The issue is more complicated than that. Some pro-life advocates do not favor exceptions to the overturning of Roe if a pregnancy threatens the life of the mother. Texas state Representative Bryan Slaton introduced a bill in March that, if passed, would create a situation in which women receiving abortions for any reason to be charged with assault or homicide, which carry the state’s death sentence. Doctors around the country are now unsure which measures they are allowed to take in the cases of ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, and other serious pregnancy complications.
This is not the first time Harbaugh has made controversial comments about this subject. In 2020, on a podcast hosted by National Review senior editor Jay Nordlinger, Harbaugh seemed to tie pro-choice philosophies to the rampant spread of COVID-19 when talking about “the younger generation” in general.
I think this group, this younger generation, those in their teens and early 20s, they see more about the world as a whole and think less about themselves and more about the planet and the environment and others. I have to honestly say much more than those of us who grew up in the ’80s. That era, that decade seems marked more by individualism.
“Even now, as we all go through what we’re going through with COVID-19, I see people more concerned about others. More prayerful. As I said, God has virtually stopped the world from spinning. I don’t think it’s coincidence — my personal feeling, living a faith-based life, this is a message or this is something that should be a time where we grow on our faith for reverence and respect for God. You see people taking more of a view of sanctity of life. And I hope that can continue. I hope that continues and not just in this time of crisis or pandemic.
And lastly, abortion, we talk about sanctity of life, yet we live in a society that aborts babies. There can’t be anything more horrendous.
What one thing has to do with the other is tough to connect, but Harbaugh wouldn’t be the first person — and he won’t be the last — to stretch this subject beyond its logical conclusions.