University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh criticizes abortion as the ‘death of an unborn person’

The University of Michigan football coach and former NFL player Jim Harbaugh publicly said the unborn are ‘amazing gifts from God’ while speaking at a pro-life event.

The University of Michigan football coach was accompanied at the Plymouth Right to Life fundraiser dinner on July 17 by his wife, Sarah. Harbaugh, fearless of publicly expressing his Catholic beliefs, expressed his opposition to abortion and his commitment to defending the unborn. 

“I believe in having the courage to let the unborn be born,” Harbaugh said. “I love life. I believe in having a loving care and respect for life and death. My faith and my science are what drive these beliefs in me.” 

The coach addressed the difficulty of the pro-life mission to eliminate abortion as a “process [that] has been passionate and messy.” He said that he has “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 legal,” the coach continued. “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.” 

Harbaugh acknowledged the “legitimate rights of the mother and the rights of the unborn child.” He pointed out that choosing an abortion “results in the death of an unborn person.” 

“In God’s plan, each unborn human truly has a future filled with potential, talent, dreams and love,” he said. “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.” 

Corresponding to the event’s theme, “We Were Made to be Courageous,” Harbaugh added, “to me, the right choice is to have the courage to let the unborn be born.” 

Following the keynote speakers, Harbaugh’s wife Sarah offered a testimony about how her parents inspired her family’s pro-life values.

“From an early age, my mom and dad would go to a Planned Parenthood and pray,” she said. “Both my parents talked about protecting the unborn. I have friends, even family, who have considered abortion or had an abortion, and I know they are not better for it.” 

Coach Harbaugh has previously spoken out against abortion. In 2020, he decried the murdering of unborn kids in a podcast interview with the National Review.

Harbaugh has also spoken publicly about the importance of his faith, including a visit to the Vatican in 2017, during which he stated that his priority in life were “faith, then family, then football.”