Jim Harbaugh, the head football coach of the Michigan Wolverines, said he and his wife would be more than willing to "raise that baby" if anyone he knew had an unplanned pregnancy.
Harbaugh recently spoke at Plymouth Right to Life, an anti-abortion rights event in Plymouth, Michigan. Harbaugh said in an interview with ESPN that he felt the need to speak out because abortion is such a big issue.
"I just think this issue of life, of saving life, the abortion issue, is one that’s so big it needs to be talked about," he said. "It needs a serious conversation. … It’s a life-or-death type of issue. I believe in and I respect people’s views, but let’s hear them, let’s discuss them."
Harbaugh said that there are people who won't agree with his stance but that he is always open to dialogue. He added: "It goes even further. … The same thing I’ve told my kids, the boys, the girls, same thing I tell our players our staff members. I encourage them if they have a pregnancy that wasn’t planned to go through with it, let that unborn child be born, and if at that time you don’t feel like you can care for it, you don’t have the means or wherewithal, then Sarah and I will take that baby."
"Any player on our team, any female staff member or anybody in our family … we got a big house. We’ll raise that baby," he said.
The Supreme Court last month overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. Since the ruling, many states have either banned abortions entirely or enacted strict laws about when the procedure can happen.