An interesting development on the pro-life advertisement set to air during the Superbowl this weekend. As you may have heard, the mother of Florida QB, Tim Tebow, claims that a physician counseled her to abort the fetus-that-would-be-Tim when she became gravely ill in the Philippines, where she was a missionary. Now, she and her son will regale the entire world with their "Celebrate Family - Celebrate Life" message during an injury time-out, a call challenge, or a regularly scheduled commercial break.
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According to Gloria Allred, the problem with this story is that abortions have been illegal in the Philippines since the 1930s and carry stiff criminal penalties that "mandate imprisonment for the woman who undergoes the abortion, as well as for any person who assists in the procedure, even if they be the woman's parents, a physician or midwife." Allred says that it is unlikely that Mrs. Tebow would have been given such advice by a physician in that circumstance. And she stands ready, if the commercial airs and "fails to disclose that abortions were illegal at the time Ms. Tebow made her choice," to "lodge a complaint with the FCC and FTC" over the matter.
A few problems. The truth is that 1) Gloria Allred is an annoying publicity whore who is actually not helping the cause of feminism 2) she couldn't possibly know what happened 18 years ago in a distant country between a doctor and his patient and 3) this kind of Churchillian "fight on the beaches" approach to the culture war is counterproductive.
Seriously, Gloria, do you really want to make yourself vulnerable to the accusation that you wish Tim Tebow had been aborted? That's pure rhetorical genius.
Another way to look at all this is that a bunch of people are wasting 2.5 million dollars to air a commercial to a bunch of people who have already made up their minds on the issue of abortion. A bunch of people paid CBS millions of dollars just so that everyone will think "My, what a great Christian he is!" That's 2.5 million dollars that could have been used to prevent unwanted pregnancies and, therefore, abortions. To wit: at the price of $20 for a pack of 12 Trojans, that 2.5 million dollars could have purchased 1,500,000 condoms. Or 167,000 months of birth control for women who are too poor to afford it. That would ensure that 13,916 women would be baby-free for one year.
Get my drift, Gloria? Feel free to borrow my argument.
Still, Tim, if you're listening, those Bible verses on your eye patches are soooo lame.
[X-Posted at www.ihatewhatyoujustsaid.com]