Former NFL Star Benjamin Watson Says Men Are Responsible to Step Up and Prevent Abortion

Finalist Benjamin Watson of the New Orleans Saints speaks during the 2015 Walter Payton Man of the Year Finalist press conference prior to Super Bowl 50 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 5, 2016. Mike Lawrie/Getty Images

A former NFL tight end, Benjamin Watson, said that men are responsible to step up and prevent abortions from happening.

Watson, who entered the NFL in 2004, played for the New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, and Baltimore Ravens.

“We’re living in a time, Martha, of abortion on demand,” Watson, who is a Christian, told Fox News.

New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson (82) makes a touchdown catch against Atlanta Falcons free safety Thomas DeCoud (28) during the first half of an NFL football game, in Atlanta, on Nov. 21, 2013. David Goldman/AP Photo

He added: “We’re living in a time of relativism. And while I would agree that hopefully, these happen in very rare instances where someone would wait nine months before having an abortion, the fact still remains that whether it’s at nine months or whether it’s at eight days or 18 days, when the heart is developing, when the baby is breathing, it’s still the same life.”

The 38-year-old said that there should be an advocate for parents who might not be in the right state of mind or in a proper financial state to deal with having children.

“It’s important to not only be people that stand for abortion as if it’s some sort of political stance—which it kind of turns into sometimes—but be someone that stands for whole life,” Watson continued.

“Be someone that’s willing to support not only this baby coming into the world, but also to support the mother and the father that may be in crisis, whatever they may be going through.”

Watson then said that in a relationship, men are providers and guardians.

“Look, men are in a role of leadership in many areas,” Watson stated. “Men are protectors. We are providers.”

“Many women would not be seeking abortions if the men involved in their lives were doing what they were supposed to be doing,” he said. “And that’s a challenge to myself, that’s a challenge to all men who are listening, that’s a challenge to men everywhere to step up.”

Following the 2018 season, Watson announced his retirement. In his career, he totaled 528 career receptions, 5,856 yards, and 44 touchdowns. He won a Super Bowl while playing for the Patriots, who defeated the Philadelphia  Eagles in Super Bowl 39, in 2005.

Recently, Watson criticized Virginia Governor Ralph Northam for his controversial pro-abortion stance.

In a tweet, Northam attempted to clarify his stance: “I have devoted my life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.”

But Watson responded with, “Children in utero deserve equal devotion Governor.”

His comments come on the heels of a South Carolina state senator’s reintroduction of a bill that would ban abortions and potentially criminalize it.

Republican Sen. Richard Cash introduced the “personhood” bill, which would make it so that life starts at conception.

“It’s an intention to recriminalize the killing of unborn babies in this state,” Cash told The State newspaper about his bill. “When you kill an unborn baby in the womb, that doctor is committing murder.”

“There is no doubt that many women are pressured (into having an abortion),” Cash explained. “They’re coerced. They’re intimidated. They’re literally threatened. … But if we say a mother is simply a victim … then we, in fact, are denying … moral responsibility to someone for their decision.”