NFL Player Calls for Pro-Lifers to Take the Next Step

CV News Feed // Former NFL player and father of seven Benjamin Watson speaks out about his pro-life views in his new book: The New Fight For Life: Roe, Race, and a Pro-life Commitment to Justice. 

While Watson is famous for playing tight end for several teams, including the New England Patriots after being selected in the first round of the 2004 draft, he gained attention throughout his career for his writing on faith, race, and his pro-life views. 

Watson recently gave a lecture about his book for Faith and Law, an organization dedicated to presenting congressional staff with speakers who address relevant cultural issues.

“We are in a fight for life,” he said. “We are a year past Roe being overturned and I think over the last year, so many of us who call ourselves pro-life have tried to figure out what does that mean now for a pro-life movement that wants to make abortion both unthinkable and unnecessary.” 

Watson recalled knowing exactly where he was when he found out about the Dobbs decision on June 24 of last year. “I remember feeling a sense of relief, excitement,” he said; however, he added that he also felt ”a bit of uncertainty,” knowing that despite the law being changed, there would still be women who felt abortion was their only option. 

He also discussed statistics he described as “earth shattering,” which say black women are “3 to 4 times more likely than their white counterparts” to abort their babies. 

“When you think about it, since 1973, 32% of the 60 plus million abortions have been performed on black children, what does that mean for a black community that has undergone generations and generations of trauma and oppression and things that we are just now finding out?” Watson asked. “What does this law being overturned mean for them?”

To meet the challenge and answer these concerns, Watson claims, “it is time to do our job when it comes to protecting life,” by advocating for justice, especially in light of the Dobbs decision. 

Watson concluded his address by saying: “There is still a fight to fight, there are still lives in the balance. And many factors will contribute to this, but we have to be willing to step up, and step out, and do our job.”