Posts Tagged ‘Tebow’

So now that we’ve had a chance to see what all the controversy has been about, I’ve started wondering: was the outcry over the Tim Tebow Super Bowl commercial worth it? Or was it much ado about nothing?

As it turned out, there were actually two ads… one that aired before the game, and one that aired during…. and you can see both here. In my opinion, the commercials were fairly innocuous… if you hadn’t heard of the controversy beforehand, you might not even know what the ads were about. And this is one of the rare instances where I take great comfort in the general apathy of Americans, as I would imagine few took the time to get off their couches and visit the Focus on the Family website before their collective attention spans were drawn to the latest Doritos commercial.

And thank goodness for that, because the Tebows seemed to have saved all the crazy for their interview at the Focus on the Family website. (I really wanted to embed the video of the interview here, but Focus on the Family isn’t allowing it as of right now… so, unfortunately, you have to visit the website to see it. If you do, stick around until the end… that’s when it starts getting good. Or, more accurately, “good.”)

Look… whether you believe it or not, I don’t begrudge the Tebows their religious beliefs. Their beliefs aren’t anywhere close to mine, but they’re entitled to them. When I’m writing these blogs, I generally try to make a pretty sincere effort to attack arguments, not beliefs, mainly because I don’t like the idea of telling someone not to believe in Jesus any more than the thought of someone telling me that I should.

But the Tebows kind of went a tad overboard during this interview. When asked what they’d say to a woman who was experiencing an unexpected pregnancy, Mr. Tebow actually turns to the camera and says, “Don’t kill your baby.” And while that flair for the dramatic may be offensive and simplistic, it’s Mrs. Tebow’s response that bothers me a bit more. She tells these women that they have a choice… with the implicit connotation, of course, that they should “choose life.”

Yes, Mrs. Tebow… women do have a choice. And that’s a great thing. But the reason why they have that choice is because of the tireless work of pro-choice advocates, who have devoted their lives to ensuring access to all choices. One of the things that always irritates me is the extremely false notion that pro-choice advocates want every pregnant woman to have an abortion. While a ridiculous argument, it actually works… for whatever reason, some people actually believe it. But I’d like to remind Mrs. Tebow that it’s not us who are wishing to limit options… it’s people like her. People who fool women into believing that their at-risk pregnancies will end in a fairy tale. People who say to other women: “You have to do this, no matter how you feel about the matter.”

So, at the end of the day, I’m glad that Mrs. Tebow chose to continue her pregnancy, as it’s a decision that she seems comfortable with. But I’m even happier that we can still use the word “choice” to describe this decision… that those choices exist… no matter how hard people like the Tebows fight against them.

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.