As Florida prepares to decide whether or not to make abortion a constitutional right through Amendment 4, a legendary football coach is speaking out.
NFL Hall of Famer and Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy urged voters to stand against Amendment 4 during a speech at Clearwater Central Catholic High School. “I happen to believe that these babies in the womb are lives, and I know everybody doesn’t believe that, but I happen to believe it. My Bible tells me that they are,” Dungy said. “My wife Lauren and I have eight adopted children in our home right now, and when I go home every day and I look at those kids, I don’t see eight choices. I’m sorry, those are eight lives, and yes we need to protect our women, and yes, we need to protect our mothers, but we need to protect those children as well.”
He also hit back against the notion that laws protecting preborn children from abortion would put women’s lives at risk. “I am so upset when people say, ‘Oh we need to get this passed because women in Florida are in danger.’ No, they’re not in danger when they’re pregnant.” Dungy said. “We have some of the best health care in the world here, and it’s available, and it’s not going to be withheld if this amendment doesn’t pass.”
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He is far from alone in speaking against the amendment; a group of doctors likewise have warned that Amendment 4 is dangerous, with Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie, who founded the group of over 300 physicians speaking against the amendment, saying it would lead to “a deregulated abortion regime that would equal that of North Korea.” She also warned that the amendment would overturn virtually all existing health and safety regulations surrounding abortion, including parental consent laws.
Dungy, who is openly pro-life, has previously criticized presidential candidate Kamala Harris for referencing faith in her defense of abortion. “Exactly what ‘faith’ are you talking about when you say you don’t have to abandon it to support abortion?” he tweeted. “Are you talking about the Christian faith that says all babies are made in the image of God (Gen 1:26), that God places them in the womb (Jer 1:5) and that we should not take any life unjustly (Luke 18:20)? Are you talking about that faith or some nebulous, general ‘faith’ that says we’re good enough, and smart enough to make our own decisions? What ‘faith’ are you talking about?”
