Tebow’s Ad Isn’t Intolerant; It’s Critics Are

Last updated on: February 2, 2010 at 11:53 am by Sarah Babbs

Tebow’s Ad Isn’t Intolerant; It’s Critics Are 2010-02-02T11:53:05-04:00 Sarah Babbs

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I found this article from The Washington Post, via Facebook, and I felt that it was well-worth sharing. Pro-abortion groups like NOW and NARAL are still calling for CBS to pull the ad, though they have made it clear that they will run it. After all 1.5 million dollars is 1.5 million dollars to CBS, whether its coming from James Dobson or Cecile Richards.

This article is from a writer who is pro-choice, and that is why she supports the Tebow’s right to tell what she calls “a pro-choice story” in the Focus on the Family Ad:

“I’m pro-choice, and Tebow clearly is not. But based on what I’ve heard in the past week, I’ll take his side against the group-think, elitism and condescension of the “National Organization of Fewer and Fewer Women All The Time.” For one thing, Tebow seems smarter than they do.

Tebow’s 30-second ad hasn’t even run yet, but it already has provoked “The National Organization for Women Who Only Think Like Us” to reveal something important about themselves: They aren’t actually “pro-choice” so much as they are pro-abortion. Pam Tebow has a genuine pro-choice story to tell. She got pregnant in 1987, post-Roe v. Wade, and while on a Christian mission in the Philippines, she contracted a tropical ailment. Doctors advised her the pregnancy could be dangerous, but she exercised her freedom of choice and now, 20-some years later, the outcome of that choice is her beauteous Heisman Trophy winner son, a chaste, proselytizing evangelical.”

Her argument makes sense to me. People who are actually pro-choice support all the choices, and would have no reason to oppose an advertisement whose purpose is for one woman to tell the story of why she chose not to have an abortion. However, if the real description of these groups is that they are pro-abortion, then we see why they would oppose such an ad.

“Pam Tebow and her son feel good enough about that choice to want to tell people about it. Only, NOW says they shouldn’t be allowed to. Apparently NOW feels this commercial is an inappropriate message for America to see for 30 seconds, but women in bikini selling beer is the right one.”

She then goes on to make the very astute point that we all complain that there aren’t enough athlete role models, that athletes like Michael Vick, and Magic Johnson, etc. set a bad example for kids with their less-than-virtuous behavior. So then, what happens when a wonderful athlete comes along who has morals and isn’t afraid to talk about them? Oh yeah, he gets crucified.

Here’s what we do need a lot more of: Tebows. Collegians who are selfless enough to choose not to spend summers poolside, but travel to impoverished countries to dispense medical care to children, as Tebow has every summer of his career. Athletes who believe in something other than themselves, and are willing to put their backbone where their mouth is. Celebrities who are self-possessed and self-controlled enough to use their wattage to advertise commitment over decadence.

You know what we really need more of? Famous guys who aren’t embarrassed to practice sexual restraint, and to say it out loud. If we had more of those, women might have fewer abortions. See, the best way to deal with unwanted pregnancy is to not get the sperm in the egg and the egg implanted to begin with, and that is an issue for men, too — and they should step up to that.

“Are you saving yourself for marriage?” Tebow was asked last summer during an SEC media day.

“Yes, I am,” he replied.

The room fell into a hush, followed by tittering: The best college football player in the country had just announced he was a virgin. As Tebow gauged the reaction from the reporters in the room, he burst out laughing. They were a lot more embarrassed than he was.

“I think y’all are stunned right now!” he said. “You can’t even ask a question!”

That’s how far we’ve come from any kind of sane viewpoint about star athletes and sex. Promiscuity is so the norm that if a stud isn’t shagging everything in sight, we feel faintly ashamed for him.

Go here to read the whole thing; although I would not call myself pro-choice, with more pro-choice people who think like this woman, actual conversations about abortion might be possible.

What do you think about an ad telling the Tebow’s story running during the Super Bowl?

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