Posts Tagged ‘Superbowl’

We’ve written twice about the anti-choice ad that CBS will air during Sunday’s Super Bowl that is being bankrolled by the ultra-conservative evangelical organization, Focus on the Family. The ad will feature University of Florida player Tim Tebow and his mom, Pam. If you’ve managed to miss the background on the controversy so far, get caught up here and here.

It’s too bad that so many people are missing the point when it comes to the content of this ad and the difficult situation that Pam Tebow found herself in. In fact, her story is a powerful one, and it rests on the fact that a woman, Pam Tebow, made an important personal and medical decision on her own, after receiving counsel from medical professionals. She made the right decision for herself and her family.

The Tebows’ story is compelling, and central to it is the fact that we must respect the ability of each woman to make important medical decisions for herself and her family.  Fortunately, this point has not been lost on everyone.

This week, a powerful video produced by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America was release on Youtube featuring college and pro football player, Sean James, and Olympic Gold Medalist, Al Joyner.

I consider this a “must-see” because it’s just so powerful to hear these two amazing athletes talk about the world they want to see for their daughters. That world is a place where everyone’s decisions are respected and where everyone believes that (to quote Sean James) “women are strong and wise” and that “only women can make the best decisions about their health and their future.” Am I the only one tearing up?

In a just a little over a minute James and Joyner really sum up the major reasons that so many of us are pro-choice. When (or if) you see the Tim Tebow ad this Super Bowl Sunday just think back to this video and remember that Pam Tebow had the ability to make the best decision for her and her family… and so too should the rest of us.

In other news, I think the Saints have won over my support in this Super Bowl. Not being a big sports fan, here’s why.

Tim Tebow for those out there who don’t know, was, until recently, the quarterback for the University of Florida football team. His collegiate career over, he’ll soon enter the NFL draft, where he may or may not be a huge superstar.

So how is this relevant to Choice 2.0? Well, Tebow’s story is somewhat well-known, at least in the evangelical world. According to the good folks at Wikipedia, when Tebow’s mother was pregnant with him, she became quite ill, a result of which she was given medication that had the great possibility of causing a stillborn birth. Doctors told her that it may be wise to consider abortion, but she refused, and gave birth to Tim. 22 years later, Tim’s become a poster child for some in the anti-choice crowd, and more pressingly, will evidently appear in a commercial for Focus on the Family, a prominent anti-choice, anti-gay evangelical group, which they hope to have air during this year’s Super Bowl. While the actual script of the ad is unknown, it’s apparent that both Tebow and his mother will appear, and that the gist of the ad will be anti-abortion.

Various sporting blogs have weighed in on this, some more sarcastically than others. Even through the snark, it’s clear that this is a rather unprecedented move for an up-and-coming athlete, and much space is being devoted to how this will impact his popularity with fans and, in a larger context, his entire career.

Tim is entitled to feel however he wants to about issues, as is his mother. What concerns me, however, is the effect this kind of argument has on women who are in similar situations to the one faced by Tebow’s mom. Yes, Pam Tebow did not choose to have an abortion and she was lucky to give birth to a child who did not have any of the disabilities or problems that doctors feared. But by holding up the story of the Tebows as an example, Focus on the Family implies that all women can have this result, if only they have enough faith. So what then happens to the women whose children aren’t so lucky? What happens to their faith? Will they wonder what they did to not be as blessed as Pam Tebow?

I fear that, by glorifying the story of the Tebows, it’s going to lead some women down a path in which they ignore the advice of doctors, instead choosing to listen to medical advice given to them by those who have no business doing so. And where, I wonder, will those women turn, if they’re not as fortunate? Not every mother can give birth to the star quarterback. No matter how hard she prays.