When Simone Biles recently announced that she was pro-choice, many Catholics felt a wave of sadness. For a woman who has inspired so many with her faith and incredible sporting abilities, it is so disappointing that she does not recognize the sanctity of unborn life and the harm that abortion does to women.
But there are still so many sportsmen and women who enthusiastically speak out about their pro-life stance, and hopefully their voices will also be heard.
Ben Watson, who ended his football career in 2019, has addressed a number of concerns, including the glaringly racial side to the organization Planned Parenthood, when talking with Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center.
The devout Christian addressed a too-often neglected issue with abortion: "Abortion saddens me period, but it seems to be something that is really pushed on minorities and provided to minorities especially as something that they should do," as shared in Life News.
"We sit here and talk about advancing the Black agenda, whatever that means, we talk about our interests, and what’s important to us – like having political power and advancement and all those things – and then we are turning around and we are killing our children. And we are buying the lie that it’s our personal decision to make," he added.
Now a dad of seven, Watson believes that in this situation men have a key role to play. While he appreciates that it can be a real struggle for women who are left to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, he encourages men to take ownership for their behavior.
Married since 2005, Watson points out that men "need to be there to support her through the physical changes of the pregnancy, and help and provide emotional strength, and do it together. As much as he has a role in making the baby in the first place, it needs to take both of them the whole way through.”
In in his gridiron days, the former tight end felt strong enough in his convictions that he'd happily share his pro-life beliefs, and religion, with fellow football players:
"You’ve got guys that consider themselves Conservative and pro-life, and you’ve got guys that consider themselves Liberal and pro-choice, and it kind of goes back and forth,” he said. “What I love is that in most of the situations I have been in, not all of them, but most, even if we sometimes talk abrasively to each other, we still have love for each other."
And it is that same united love that is at the heart of the pro-life movement that Watson stands for.
