Millions Will See Pro-Life Ad During Super Bowl

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Tim Tebow with his mother Pam   

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    Pro-family organization Focus on the Family has produced a commercial that it plans to air during the Super Bowl, the biggest football game of the year that is watched on TV by tens of millions.

    While Focus on the Family has not confirmed the content of the ad, it is expected to feature the story of college football star Tim Tebow. The Associated Press reported this week that the ad will feature the theme of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life”.

    Tebow, 22, is the quarterback for the University of Florida college football team. He is widely considered among the best college players in the country, setting several records and winning the prestigious Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the best college football player in the country.

    Tebow’s story began in 1985, when his strongly pro-life Christian parents were on a missionary trip in the Philippines. But Pam Tebow, his mother, contracted dysentery, a potentially fatal infection of the intestine caused by a parasite in a contaminated food or drink.

    Treatment for the infection would require strong medications that doctors said would cause irreversible damage to her unborn baby, so she was urged to abort him. But Pam refused and hoped that because of her strong Christian faith her son would be born without the severe disabilities the doctors predicted.

    Pam was right, and Tim was born a healthy baby boy on August 14, 1987. Her son is now considered a top pick for the 2010 NFL draft.

    Since so many people (up to 100 million) watch the Super Bowl each year, the price of buying airtime for commercials is huge – often hitting as much as $2 or $3 million for a 30-second ad. Focus on the Family confirmed that it has bought airtime for four ads: three right before the game and one during it. Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger said the money for the commercials came from generous donors who made special gifts for the project, many of them stretching beyond their typical donation amounts.

    Now, CBS, the network which will air the Super Bowl this year, is facing pressure from pro-abortion groups such as the Women’s Media Center, National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, and others to reject the ad.

    “An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year – an event designed to bring Americans together,” Jehmu Greene, president of the Women’s Media Center, told the Associated Press.

    CBS officials told the AP they have approved the ad for airing and promised they would block “issue-oriented” content from airing.

    In a press conference on Sunday, Tebow defended the ad, saying, “I know some people won’t agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe,” he said. “I’ve always been very convicted of it (his views on abortion) because that’s the reason I’m here, because my mom was a very courageous woman. So any way that I could help, I would do it.”

    Today, SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser also defended the ad, blasting hypocritical pro-“choice” groups for not respecting Pam Tebow’s decision to choose life.

    “NOW and company are losing their grip as their pro-abortion position sinks in public opinion. I had no idea NOW leaders were such experts on sports. Missed that part of their mission.   
 
    “What is real here is their desperation to keep full information from women. Shouldn’t the ‘pro-choice’ position respect Pam Tebow’s decision to choose Life?  What is the worst case scenario in allowing the ad to air?  Women are exposed to an example of sacrifice for the sake of an unborn child. NOW needs to explain where the harm and threat to women and children is here.”

    Focus on the Family president and CEO Jim Daly said in a statement that comes at a time when “families need to be inspired.”

    “Tim and Pam share our respect for life and our passion for helping families thrive,” he said. “Focus on the Family is about … strengthening families by empowering them with the tools they need to live lives rooted in morals and values.”

    Good for CBS – we applaud them for having the courage and integrity to allow pro-lifers the same rights to free speech that pro-choicers get from the media. As you may recall, last year, NBC refused to air a pro-life ad from the pro-life organization Fidelis under its CatholicVote umbrella. The ad, which has almost 2 million views on YouTube, asks what would have happened had President Barack Obama been a victim of abortion.

    God bless CBS and God bless Tim Tebow! He will inspire countless Christians and aspiring athletes to stand up for what is right!

Block Hard for Tebow!

Support the ad and thank CBS for their decision to air it by contacting Sean McManus, president of CBS News & Sports, at [email protected] or 212-975-4321.

To see the SBA List statement on the ad controversy, click here.

To see news articles about the ad, click here.

To see the LifeNews.com story about Tim Tebow’s birth, click here.

To see the LifeNews.com story about the ad, click here.

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