Posted on 01/22/2016 5:04:22 PM PST by Morgana
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 22, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – All the speakers at the 2016 March for Life play a pivotal role – but only one was regularly called an MVP.
Matt Birk, the former center for the Minnesota Vikings and the Baltimore Ravens, proclaimed his support for women and unborn children this afternoon from the frosty dais of the March for Life.
Birk explained the reasons his family attended the 43rd annual right-to-life event in a brief, straightforward, heartfelt speech.
“I'm a football player,†he said. “I'll keep it simple.â€
“We march, because I've never heard a woman give birth to a baby and say, 'I wish I had an abortion.' That is why we march,†he said.
“I've never heard of a worker at a life clinic who decided to go work at an abortion clinic. That is why we march,†he said.
Two of the women who shared the platform with him – speaker Jewels Green and Catherine Adair of Silent No More – formerly worked at abortion facilities, but they now hold signs proclaiming, “I Regret Providing Abortions.â€
Until Live Action and the Center for Medical Progress began releasing undercover videos of Planned Parenthood, most public knowledge about the inner workings of the abortion industry came from former industry workers like the late Dr. Bernard Nathanson. Many them said they only fled the workplace after being deeply scarred by what they had witnessed.
In 2011, seven former abortion workers testified before Congress against Planned Parenthood. Among them was former Planned Parenthood office manager Abby Johnson, who went on to found a ministry aimed at converting abortion workers, And Then There Were None.
Two years later, Dr. Anthony Levatino told lawmakers about the realities of second-trimester abortion alongside Jill Stanek, a former nurse who exposed abortion inside a nominally Christian hospital in Illinois.
Birk, who earned a degree in economics from Harvard, called grieving mothers recovering from an aborton “the real heroes†of the pro-life movement. “We love them, and we appreciate them,†he said. Advertisement
He also struck upon contemporary controversies, saying, “If black lives matter, lives in the womb matter.â€
That may have been intended as a commentary on progressive pro-life Christian Ron Sider's speech yesterday morning at the first annual Evangelicals for Life event. Sider said that independent Christians should support the Black Lives Matter movement, labeling it a pro-life cause.
But then, Birk has never been one to avoid a collision if necessary.
When the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2013, he declined to meet President Barack Obama with his teammates, due to the president's strident views in support of abortion.
“I have great respect for the office of the presidency, but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, 'God bless Planned Parenthood,'†he explained. “Planned Parenthood performs about 330,000 abortions a year.â€
“I am Catholic. I am active in the pro-life movement, and I just felt like I couldn't deal with that,†Birk said. “I couldn't endorse that in any way."
The same faith-based, pro-family ethic motivated his strong public support for traditional marriage in 2012.
Since retiring from the gridiron, the 39-year-old has served as the director of football development for the NFL.
unfortunate trump didn’t make an appearance. Would’ve given his evolution on abortion epic credibility
God Bless Matt Birk.
Yes! BRAVO to this man who stands for life and publicly dissed the evil one.
I am new here and am about to give a most likely unpopular opinion. I hope I won’t be banned for this, but I feel I must say it
I am pro-abortion. Why? Because it is the TRULY CONSERVATIVE position. Ok, now that most everyone is freaking out about that ...
Being pro-abortion is an ECONOMICALLY conservative position.
I would rather my tax dollars pay for 1 abortion versus 18 years of welfare,section 8,food stamps, WIC ,HEAP, obama phone etc.
So on a bottom line financial sense being pro-abortion is CONSERVATIVE.
Also, when these kids grow up on 18 years of the system (food stamps,sec 8 housing,HEAP,WIC,obama phones, etc.) who do you think they will vote for?
The democRATs. yes so on top of it being fiscally irresponsible, we have now added to the democRATs voting rolls.
This is part of the great deceit being perpetrated on real conservatives to lose even more voting power. Fool them into making them create more democRAT voters.
And from what I have posted here, do you understand why I think being pro-abortion is the TRUE CONSERVATIVE way?
I always say it’s a huge credit to conservatives that they work so hard to preserve the lives of future Democrat voters.
What about your morals? Isn’t that more important than economics?
So the child is just an economic proposition to you and nothing else?
It must suck to be you
Why let birth be the factor.
Let’s just kill all welfare recipients.
It’s the most conservative position, right?
What a moron
Thanks for letting us know you are evil.
stop bogarting, dude
Newbie troll, he is
Your economic argument isn’t much more than Jonathan Swift’s “modest proposal”, dressed up with pseudo-respectability by applying it only to the pre-born - others (notably Steven Pinker at Princeton) have no such compunctions, and are happy to extend parental termination of human life to a point well after birth.
Truly conservative positions are based on principles; the one that’s applicable here is stated in the Declaration - the right to life is inalienable: it cannot be taken by others or even surrendered (libertarians generally have a real problem with that concept). No human being who ever existed did so without passing through various stages of development, including existence as a fetus - every fetus has a unique genetic identity, and is thus a unique human individual, whatever its state of development.
Anytime one class of humans has decided another class is non-human due to some non-disqualifying characteristic the results have not been pretty.
The Nazis decided Jews (and Slavs and gypsies) were less than human, and the result was tens of millions of deaths in war and its consequences.
Slaveowners decided African blacks were less than human, and the result was millions of deaths in war and its consequences.
You (and others) have decided the preborn are less than human; the results have been a diminished concern for life throughout society - and the ultimate consequences again will not be pretty.
I smell ozone. IBTZ.
“Why let birth be the factor.”
Hmm.... I know there are other people who use this line..I am sure I have heard it spewed on the mass Socialist media...who are they again..oh yeah that’s right...
democRATs
Hi Bernie!
Ride the lightening
One more proof that libertoonianism has little in common with actual conservatism.
Newbie, you are advocating eugenics and conservatism has absolutely no room for eugenics. Refusing to admit Islamofascist "refugees" or the ongoing flood from South of the border is one thing. Cheerleading the killing of innocent unborn babies in utero is quite something else and that something is quite disreputable. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was no conservative. Nor was Margaret Sanger or H. G. Wells or Havelock Ellis or Gloria Steinem or Baahbaah Boxer or BS Streisand or Obozo or Moral Monster Mitt Romney or John Kerry or Comrade Arkansas Medusa or Comrade Bernie Sanders.
I have been here for many years and have had many flashpoint exchanges with others here but I have never pinged JimRob over differences in opinions and won't start with you. I hit the abuse button only once in all these years and that was when a FReeper threatened to locate my home and assault me. I asked if I should call the police and that FReeper was sent on permanent vacation. I take it that as a libertarian you do not favor those who threaten to initiate force.
This a forum for the exchange of ideas but you are correct in presuming that your opinion on babykilling will be verrrrrrry unpopular here and you will need asbestos undies. I generally refrain from full-throated attacks during a newbie's first days here but others may be less generous.
In any event, shame on you!
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