Men in the Arena

Women hold the important leadership positions in the pro-life movement. Some examples in Iowa:

Pulse Life Advocates: Maggie DeWitte

Iowa Right to Life: Kristi Judkins

Innervisions HealthCare: Theresa Welch

Agape Pregnancy Resource Center:  Leanna Simpson

At the national level:

Live Action: Lila Rose

March For Life: Jeanne Mancini

Susan B. Anthony PRO-LIFE America: Marjorie Dannenfelser

Students for Life: Kristan Hawkins

Abortion isn’t a woman’s issue

In recognition that abortion isn’t merely a ‘women’s issue,’ men were well-represented at last Friday’s March For Life in Washington DC, both as ‘marchers’ as well as speakers.

Perhaps the highest profile man speaking at the March was Hall of Fame football coach, Tony Dungy, who won Super Bowls both as a player and a coach.

Mr. Dungy stated that his appearance at this human rights event was “way, way more important” than the NFL play-off season, which so defines his career, both as a player and a coach, and now as a high-profile football analyst. You can watch his speech below.

The man in the arena

By agreeing to speak at the March for Life, Tony Dungy truly became a “man in the arena,” opening himself up to vitriol from a pro-death culture. For example, Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, blasted both Dungy and his boss, NBC:

“If Dungy wants a show on ‘The Daily Wire,’ more power to him. But his being center stage on the most watched program in the country makes NBC and the NFL complicit in his disinformation and political posturing. Like Dungy, neither NBC nor the NFL has commented about his latest eruption. But their silence speaks volumes. It’s a silence that’s almost as loud as Dungy’s hateful blather, almost as loud as the thousands of people descending upon Washington—some mandatorily—to celebrate a fascistic, discredited Supreme Court and the loss of our rights. It’s shameful. And we should not be afraid to say so.”

Mr. Zirin’s tirade barely scratches the surface of the hateful feeding frenzy that took place on Twitter.

Another man in the arena

Actor Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus in the hit TV series, The Chosen, also stepped into the ‘arena’ at the March For Life. Said Roumie:

“I know how difficult it can be to think differently, to swim against the current, to choose life in a culture that celebrates death. You know standing here and saying these things to you now is neither the obvious career choice, or an easy decision for me, because I’ve never set foot in this arena before publicly. But ultimately, I had no choice. This guy made me do it [pointing towards heaven], and I’m a better man for it.”

Role models for men

Tony Dungy and Jonathan Roumie are role models for men to boldly leap into the arena to defend the little guy, the unborn, regardless of the cost. Teddy Roosevelt described what it takes to be this man in the “arena”:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Join us in the arena

Pulse Life Advocates honors not just the great women in the pro-life movement, but those men who act like men by stepping into an arena that the culture says doesn’t belong to them. 

Men like Tony Dungy and Jonathan Roumie.

Men like Bishop William Joensen who attended last year’s March, and who just issued common sense guidance on how to handle gender dysphoria in Catholic schools and churches, despite the cultural pushback he knew would come.

Men like Michigan football coach, Jim Harbaugh, who spoke at a Michigan pro-life banquet last year, despite the pushback he knew would come.

And men like the high school and college young men who ‘dared greatly’ by making a pilgrimage to this year’s March in Washington DC with Pulse knowing that they’d face pushback from their peer group who don’t see the life issue in the same way as they do.

Timid men cower in the face of the threats hurled at the likes of brave men like Dungy, Roumie, Joensen, and Harbaugh. There is no shortage of these men.

Rather, let us emulate Teddy Roosevelt and all the brave men who step into the arena and fight valiantly for a worthy cause. The March For Life demonstrates that they won’t be alone.

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