Abortion: The furor over a Super Bowl ad

Tim Tebow isn’t even a professional yet, said Tom Krattenmaker in USA Today, but the collegiate star is already the most talked-about quarterback of this year’s Super Bowl. An outspoken Christian who uses eye-black to paint Bible verses on his face, Tebow has become an overnight “culture-wars flash point” by filming a 30-second anti-abortion ad to be aired during the big game. In the ad, Tebow and his mom, Pam, tell how doctors advised her to get an abortion, because of an infection she’d developed while she was pregnant with Tim. She chose not to, and Tebow stands as testament to her faith in God and her belief in life. Pro-choice groups are furious, and have demanded that CBS, which has lifted its ban on “advocacy advertising,” pull the ad. What the ad is saying, said syndicated columnist Susan Estrich, is that if women are warned they’re carrying deformed fetuses, they should ignore their doctors and pray. Then they, too, can give birth to a superstar. That message is “deceptive and ultimately cruel.”

Tim Tebow “has a right to speak his heart,” said Christine Flowers in the Philadelphia Daily News, and “we have a right to hear what he has to say.” Perhaps the so-called feminists should focus their energies on the dozens of other Super Bowl commercials that will use degrading images of women to sell products. But don’t hold your breath. Tebow’s inspiring story represents a profound threat to the pro-abortion agenda, which is quickly losing support in national polls. Pam Tebow’s decision to give her unborn child a “fighting chance,” and his subsequent success, is an eloquent testimonial to the value of an unborn life.

Fair enough, said Frances Kissling and Kate Michaelman in The Washington Post. Now that CBS has relaxed its ban on advocacy ads, we pro-choicers should produce an emotionally powerful ad of our own. It could depict a dozen different women, some rushing out to work, some washing dishes, some pushing a baby stroller. The message: “Making choices isn’t easy,” but tough choices are what life is all about. In the Tebows’ world, women would not have any decision to make if they were told their fetus were deformed, or if they were raped, or if they got pregnant when they were 14. In ours, women will continue to make that tough decision for themselves.

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