Super Bowl XLIV may have been the best Super Bowl I’ve ever seen, and not just for the game itself. Beyond the storybook ending with Drew Brees holding up his 13 month old son on the podium in receiving the Most Valuable Player award, the entire aspect of the game, the commercials, and the feel of the broadcast defined what Super Bowl Sunday should be.
CBS’s most impressive stand this year came through a commercial aired in the first quarter. As companies one after another tried to comically outperform each other, a more serious yet friendly and lighthearted commercial featuring Pam Tebow and her son Tim appeared. The now famous ad features Pam showing a picture of Tim as a toddler and admitting that she “almost lost him” in reference to a severe placental abruption he overcame in the womb. For the average person who is unaware of the severity of a placental abruption, it results in the fetus dying up to 50 percent of the time before even being born. What’s more is that doctors recommended that Pam abort her unborn son to avoid losing her own life as well. Instead, she chose to trust in her faith and gave birth to arguably the most accomplished and influential college athlete in sports history.
I’ll admit, like many Americans outside the state of
Whether you’re an abortion critic or not, it’s impossible to argue the profound effect that Tim Tebow’s example has set. Is it wrong or controversial to use his story to show how his mother’s choice to honor Tim’s life has given him the opportunity to develop into a Heisman Trophy winner and Christian leader? Shouldn’t such a success story be celebrated and highlighted for its positive aspects rather than debated for a morality line it doesn’t even cross? Nowhere in the commercial does it ever advertise clinics or pregnancy help centers. Nowhere in the commercial does it ever use the word abortion or refute others who may feel opposed to its pro-life message. All this ad does promote is a family focused lifestyle in which a sick mother chose to have her child. That’s why it is absolute ludicrous and almost laughable for pro-choice groups such as the National Organization of Women (NOW) to be calling the ad “extraordinarily offensive.” If these groups honestly feel that way about something as genuinely positive as this ad, I’d hate to see what they label pro-life politicians and life respecting agencies. To keep this article at a respectable length, I’m not even going to waste my time looking.
Though a major portion of Tebow’s ad implicitly promotes the family’s stance of being pro-life and their success story behind choosing life, the largest aspect of this commercial encourages family life and reduction in abortions. All viewers, pro-life or pro-choice, can agree that abortions need to be scaled back. Just as important, all viewers should look past any particular issues they have with the Tebow family’s anti-abortion beliefs and do what the name of the sponsor suggests: Focus on the family.
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