supporters to send letters to CBS Chairman Les Moonves to urge him not to bow
to pressure to pull a pro-life Super Bowl ad featuring college football star Tim
Tebow and his mother.
The ad, which has not been seen, is expected to tell the
story of Pam Tebow’s pregnancy in 1987. After getting sick during a mission
trip to the Philippines, she was advised to abort her fifth child because
doctors feared the medication she was given had caused irreversible damage. She
ignored the recommendation and gave birth to Tim, who went on to win the
Heisman Trophy in 2007.
The ad was paid for by Focus on the Family at an estimated
cost of $2.5 million and has a theme of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate
Life.”
“CBS has
come under withering fire from the left for its decision to air this ad,” AFA
wrote in an e-mail to supporters Wednesday.
“The hypocrisy here
is thick,” it continued. “Abortion proponents claim to be all about choice, but
they are outraged over an ad that features a woman exercising her right to
choose life for her baby son.”
On Monday, a national coalition of women’s groups including
the National Organization for Woman (NOW), the Feminist Majority and the Women’s
Media Center called on CBS to pull the pro-life ad, saying it would be
divisive.
“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,” said Jehmu Greene, president of the New
York-based Women’s Media Center, according to the Associated Press (AP).
CBS said Tuesday that it had approved the script and that the 30-second spot will run during the Super Bowl. But the network said it would
also consider other “responsibly produced” advocacy ads in its Feb. 7
broadcast, the AP reported.
All the national TV networks have policies governing the
broadcast of certain types of controversial advocacy ads. Last year, when NBC
broadcast the Super Bowl the network declined to air an ad sponsored by the
Catholic watchdog group Fidelis that hailed the success of President Obama and
featured the message “Life: Imagine the Potential.”
