Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam, are facing charges by high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred that their controversial Super Bowl ad is "misleading." The pro-life spot, produced by conservative group Focus on the Family, reportedly tells how Pam chose to carry the future football star to term in 1987 despite possible complications and her doctor's recommendation that she abort the fetus. Sounds fishy, says Allred; Pam was then living in the Philippines, a country that has banned abortions since 1930 and harshly penalizes doctors who perform the procedure. Does Allred's argument cast doubt on the Tebows' pro-life tale? (Watch Gloria Allred call the controversial Tim Tebow ad "misleading")
This definitely complicates things: "I don’t know if Mrs. Tebow is lying," says blogger Orlando in Dagblog.com. But Allred does raise some legitimate questions: I find it "highly unlikely," for instance, that Tebow's physician in the Philippines "would risk his or her career, let alone a few years in prison, to perform an abortion." At the very least, the Tebows need to offer more detail.
"Is Tim Tebow's mother breaking the ninth Commandment?"
Allred is "Swiftboating" the Tebows: It's "political partisanship at its ugliest and dirtiest" for Allred, a pro-choice activist, to question the honesty of Pam Tebow's account, says Mike Bianchi at the Orlando Sentinel. The fact that Pam Tebow was living in the Philippines is a red herring: As an American citizen, she "could have easily flown back to the United States to get an abortion." But she "chose not to."
"Tim Tebow abortion story is being 'Swiftboated'"
At least Pam Tebow had a choice: Let's give the Tebows' "heartwarming so-called 'pro-life' story" the benefit of the doubt, says Tracy Clark-Flory in Salon. Pam says "her decision not to abort" was based on her "Christian faith," not "a lack of access" to the procedure. Unfortunately, "the 1,000-plus women" who died in the Philippines in 2008 directly as a result of the abortion ban didn't enjoy the same options.
"The truth behind Tebow's tale"
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SEE MORE OF THE WEEK'S RELATED COVERAGE:
• Tim Tebow's Super Bowl ad scandal
• Sarah Palin's pro-life tabloid cover: Sell out?
• Abortion: A pro-choicer converts
• Does the media hate Christians?
