Family is important to Jim Harbaugh, so it’s no surprise that he was there at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday to support his brother John, whose Baltimore Ravens were taking on the Houston Texans in an NFL playoff game.

But Harbaugh belongs to another family — the pro-life family — which is why he was there at the National Mall in nearby Washington, DC, a day beforehand to take part in Friday’s 51st annual March for Life.

“You know, we all talk about human rights,” Harbaugh told The Daily Caller. “There are really no rights that are important unless you have the right to life.” Harbaugh also spoke briefly to the crowd, thanking attendees for being there and telling them: “It’s a great example that you’re setting. It’s a testimony to the sanctity of life.” He then went full football coach, raising his voice and shouting: “It’s a great day for a march! It’s a great day! This is football weather! Let’s go!”

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

As the Associated Press reports: “Months before a presidential election that could be heavily influenced by abortion politics, anti-abortion activists packed the National Mall carrying signs with messages such as ‘Life is precious’ and ‘I am the pro-life generation.’ After listening to speeches, the crowd, braving frigid temperatures, marched past the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson was also there, and, as The Hill reports, he told the crowd that he himself was born of an unplanned pregnancy shortly before the Supreme Court’s disastrous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Johnson also acknowledged the political challenges confronting the pro-life movement in the post-Dobbs era. With that resounding decision, the High Court struck down a half-century-old abomination, and yet voters even in red states seem committed to preserving some degree of abortion rights. Indeed, it’s a sad sign of the times that abortion is the only issue that Democrats seem able to run on.

Johnson noted that two pro-life bills passed the House on Thursday and that the bills are focused on funding and protecting pregnancy centers. “We’re passing these bills and we’re marching today,” he said, “because it takes a lot of work to convince people that every single human child, every unborn child, has a value that is too profound and precious to ignore. And we have every reason to be optimistic, my friends, that we can change public opinion.”

In Speaker Johnson, we seem to have a fighter committed to the cause of life. And in Harbaugh, too, who does more than merely talk the talk. As journalist Colin Rugg posted, “Harbaugh once told his Michigan players and staff that if any of them were ever dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, he and his wife would take the baby.”

No one who knows Harbaugh doubts that he’d do just that.

“I believe in having the courage to let the unborn be born,” he told the audience at a Right to Life dinner and auction in Michigan in 2022. “I love life. I believe in having a loving care and respect for life and death. My faith and my science are what drives these beliefs in me. Quoting from Jeremiah, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart.’”

Friday’s marchers were undeterred from calling attention to what they rightly note is “the most significant human rights abuse of our time,” and the Republican Party seems all in, at least for now. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel released the following statement ahead of the March for Life:

The Republican Party stands with the thousands of Americans braving the snow in Washington, D.C. to stand for life, babies, and mothers at the annual March for Life in defense of the unborn. It is a joyful celebration of life and a reminder that every member of our society has inherent, God-given worth. Today and every day, the Republican Party proudly protects the sanctity of life while fighting back against Joe Biden and Democrats’ out-of-touch abortion agenda.

There can be no arguing that the right to life is the fundamental human right, nor that the Republican Party is on the right side of this issue, and on the right side of history. As the March for Life website notes, “Together, we can create a world where the beauty and dignity of every human life are valued and protected.”

“The work is not yet over,” writes Kayla Bartsch at National Review, and perhaps it never will be. But the cause continues, and with conviction. “Our hope is in Jesus, not in policy,” said 23-year-old activist Abigail DeJarnatt, who was there at the March. “Seeing all of this unfold is amazing, but it comes down to hearts and minds and real conversations with real people.”