Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh makes surprise March for Life appearance
University of Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, 2024, pictured with Tim Shipe, a high school teacher from Florida (and lifelong Buckeye fan). / Credit: Father Eric Scanlan
CNA Staff, Jan 19, 2024 / 17:17 pm (CNA).
Jim Harbaugh, the celebrated football coach whose University of Michigan Wolverines just won the national championship, made a surprise appearance Friday at the annual pro-life march in Washington, D.C., at which he praised marchers for what he said was the witness to life they were demonstrating.
“It’s a great example that you’re setting,” Harbaugh told the crowd at a rally before the March for Life. “It’s testimony, for the sanctity of life.”
“It’s a great day for a march!” the coach added to cheers. “It’s a great day! This is football weather! Let’s go!”
"It's a great day for a march...this is football weather!"
Coach Jim Harbaugh at the @March_for_Life #WhyWeMarch #ewtnprolife pic.twitter.com/eRkwxC1BP1
— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) January 19, 2024
Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh speaks at the March for Life: "It's a great day for a march... This is football weather!"pic.twitter.com/GAS9zfuJFB
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) January 19, 2024
Harbaugh, who introduced keynote speaker Benjamin Watson, a former NFL player, was a surprise addition to the lineup of speakers at the pre-march rally on the National Mall.
Social media users, meanwhile, posted images of Harbaugh at the march itself and prior to it.
Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh is attending the March for Life today.
Thank you Coach for your pro-life convictions! h/t @JonathanKeller pic.twitter.com/1GAf8PRpU0
— Stop Abortion Now (@LifeNewsToo) January 19, 2024
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A post shared by Catholic Connect 🇻🇦 Vatican (@catholicconnect)
Michigan football Coach Jim Harbaugh addresses the March for Life! pic.twitter.com/Q8G9RYpys0
— Ave Maria Radio (@AveMariaRadio) January 19, 2024
Michigan football head coach, Jim Harbaugh just surprised everyone here at the #MarchForLife Rally here in DC.
He said this is “great football weather” and thanked everyone for still coming out here today. @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/8VC5jtddJS
— Alexis Wainwright (@AWainwrightTV) January 19, 2024
In recent years, Harbaugh, a Roman Catholic, has been outspoken about his pro-life views.
In 2022 he shared with ESPN how he told his family, players, and staff members that if they found themselves in an unplanned pregnancy and could not take care of the baby then he and his wife would raise the child.
“I’ve told [them] the same thing I tell my kids, 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, go through with it,” Harbaugh told the network.
“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 the wherewithal, then Sarah and I will take that baby.”
The coach, who in 2017 presented Pope Francis with a University of Michigan helmet and pair of cleats, said that year that visiting the Vatican was “the experience of a lifetime.”
Pope Francis with Michigan Wolverines football coach Jim Harbaugh in Vatican City, April 26, 2017. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano.
The grace he felt after meeting the Holy Father “was beyond description,” he told CNA.
“And I know that there’s something that I’m supposed to do with that opportunity, with that encounter, of meeting the Holy Father,” he said. “I’m going to pray about it.”