Why did an
innocent statement about protecting unborn life unleash a national uproar?
Today’s feminist groups need a reality check.
I’m not sure what
the folks at Planned Parenthood expected football star Tim Tebow to do in his
long-awaited Super Bowl ad on Sunday night. Condemn women to hell if they’ve
had abortions? Show photos of aborted fetuses? Wave a gun at abortionists?
Tebow is a big
guy, but both of his ads were polite and harmless—maybe even too safe. And the
22-year-old Heisman Trophy winner appeared in the 30-second ads with his mother,
for crying out loud. She was even holding his baby picture!
Why did this ad
cause so much hyperventilation?
| “It would be more helpful if pro-choice feminists would redirect their anger at a legitimate concern, such as the blatant exploitation of women portrayed in Sunday night’s Super Bowl ad from GoDaddy.com—the Web domain company.” |
Tebow never
quoted the Bible in the ads, and he didn’t mention the word abortion
once. Nor did he sport a Bible reference on his eye black like he always does
on the field. (He could have painted “John 10:10” on his face, or some other
reference to life, but he chose a more subtle approach.)
The whole ad
campaign was, like the clean-cut Tebow, a study in innocence. It was designed
to remind the estimated 100 million viewers of Super Bowl XLIV that an unborn
child is a life. Is that really so dangerous?
In the first ad,
which ran during the pre-game show, Pam Tebow called Tim her “miracle baby” and
said, “He almost didn’t make it into this world.” In the second ad, Tebow playfully tackled
his mom. Both ads invited people to go to the Focus on the Family Web site to
learn more about Tebow’s story.
That’s it. But
judging by all the hand-wringing around the country, you would have thought
that Mrs. Tebow had set women’s rights back 100 years and inaugurated a new era
of back-alley, coat-hanger abortions.
The frantic
overreaction from pro-choice advocates proves they simply don’t want the truth
told. Nancy Keenan, president of the National Abortion Rights Action League,
told her audience: “Anti-choice politics have no
place in the Super Bowl, so when the ad runs, focus on something else—anything
else—besides Focus on the Family.”
Atheist and political activist Sunsara Taylor, who
led a campaign last year called the “Away With All Gods” tour, called the
Tebow ad “fascist lunacy.” After seeing the materials about Pam Tebow’s
decision not to abort Tim, Taylor said Focus on the Family was spreading a
dangerous message. Taylor wrote: “Women are not breeders and
there is nothing inherently praise-worthy about choosing to carry a pregnancy
to term, unless you are living in the biblical Dark Ages.”
So
what these people are saying is that the only way we can have true “freedom of
choice” in this country is to eliminate freedom of speech. That sounds like
fascism to me!
It would be more helpful if pro-choice feminists would redirect
their anger at a legitimate concern, such as the blatant exploitation of women
portrayed in Sunday night’s Super Bowl ad from GoDaddy.com—the Web domain
company. Their ads featured curvy
models who stripped down to their T-shirts and then asked men to visit their
Web site for a better view of the cleavage.
Those ads were
crass, degrading and shameless. But in our dysfunctional culture, sexual
exploitation of women is fine—just as long as we can kill unborn babies without
being reminded of who they might have grown up to be.
J. Lee Grady was editor of Charisma for 11 years and is now
serving as contributing editor. His favorite Super Bowl ad was the Denny’s
Grand Slam Breakfast promo with the screaming chickens. You can find him on
Twitter at leegrady.
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J. Lee Grady is an author, award-winning journalist and ordained minister. He served as a news writer and magazine editor for many years before launching into full-time ministry.
Lee is the author of six books, including 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, 10 Lies Men Believe and Fearless Daughters of the Bible. His years at Charisma magazine also gave him a unique perspective of the Spirit-filled church and led him to write The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale and Set My Heart on Fire, which is a Bible study on the work of the Holy Spirit.
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