Gentle Tebow Ad Has Big Impact

From LifeSiteNews
By James Tillman

Approximately 4% of those who support abortion were lead to "personally reconsider [their] opinion about abortion" after watching the pro-life Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam, according to a new Barna study.

Approximately 92.6 million Americans watched the ad when it aired February 7, during what is normally the most-viewed broadcast in America each year. Because slightly less than half of repondents in the poll self-identified as pro-abortion, the data suggests that about 1.7 million pro-abortion viewers reconsidered their position after watching the spot.

In addition, a majority of respondents saw the ad as both positive and suitable for the Super Bowl slot. Only 8% of respondents found it offensive.

Yet this was not the ad's only effect.

The ad, featuring a short message in which Pam speaks of how Tim almost failed to make it into the world, directs viewers to a longer video on the Focus on the Family website.

"Our [website] traffic jumped to 40 times its normal volume [during the game]," Focus on the Family spokeswoman Monica Schleicher said, according to the Denver Post. "In the hour during the pre-game [broadcast], when the other ad aired twice, our Web traffic was 20 times our normal volume."

In the powerful, ten-minute interview with Tim Tebow's parents on the Focus on the Family website, Pam and Bob Tebow describe how they had prayed for Tim to be born.

"We were very excited that I became pregnant with Timmy," Pam recounts, "and we went to see the doctor there in the town that we lived in; she said it wasn't a baby at all, he was a mass of fetal tissue, and that I needed to abort him immediately if I was going to save my life."

During the following very difficult pregnancy, Pam said that she thought she would lose Tim nearly daily; nevertheless, she continued to experience peace in resignation to God's will.

When Jim Daly asked what advice the Tebows would give to a young lady with an unplanned pregnancy, they were ready with an answer.

"I would say that baby's not a mistake, though it might seem that way to her," said Pam, "and that God will enable her to do the right thing and to give her the encouragement that she needs, but that there's also help for her."

"And girls have those options. They have a choice. And God really has his hand on the situation. There's so many people out there willing to help if they give them the chance."

Bob Tebow had a similarly simple message.

"The first thing I would say to you if you have a surprise pregnancy is: God loves you. God loves you, and he loves your baby," he said. "There are lots of people; they'll help you. Don't kill your baby."

The effect of the ad was multiplied by the piles of publicity pro-abortion groups generated by demanding that CBS refuse to show the ad, and complaining that the Super Bowl should not be a political event.

In a recent editorial, Focus on the Family President Jim Daly mentioned that "The criticism we've received from this ad has been curious."

"Many who consider themselves 'pro-choice' have found fault with us for celebrating Pam Tebow's choice," he continued. "Those who hold to such a radical position clearly appear to be more pro-abortion than pro-choice."

He continued by suggesting a few "modest changes" that might save lives: instituting a consent or waiting period at abortion facilities, requiring doctors to give women the option to view an ultrasound prior to an abortion, requiring parental involvement before abortion, and encouraging adoption.

Tim Tebow Defends Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad under Fire

From LifeSiteNews
By Peter J. Smith

College football superstar Tim Tebow is standing fast behind a pro-life ad developed by Focus on the Family and set to air on CBS on Super Bowl Sunday. Although the ad has not been released, abortion advocacy groups are already demanding that it be scrapped, since it likely features the story of how Tebow’s mother chose life when doctors were urging her abort her now-famous son.

The college football superstar, who just ended his last season quarterbacking for the Florida Gators, has been an anomaly among top-tier athletes. Tebow makes no bones about his Christian faith, his pro-life convictions, and the fact that he wants to save himself for marriage.

But Tebow’s pro-life convictions spring from an unusually personal source: back in 1987, his mother contracted amoebic dysentery while pregnant with him in the Philippines, and doctors recommended abortion. Had Pam Tebow taken that advice, Tebow fans would never have seen the football phenomenon win the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and carry the Gators to victory in two major championships.

At a Sunday press conference in Mobile, Tebow told the gaggle of reporters: "I know some people won't agree with [the ad], but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe, and I'm never shy about that."

"I don't feel like I'm very preachy about it, but I do stand up for what I believe. Unfortunately in today's society not many athletes tend to do that. So I'm just standing for something."

But Tebow’s standing for pro-life values has outraged abortion advocacy groups, who fear the effect the Focus on the Family ad could have on millions of Super Bowl viewers on Feb. 7. Tebow’s story is already credited with having influenced a number of women to choose not to abort their babies.

The Women’s Media Center has been coordinating efforts with the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority to pressure CBS, the broadcasting station hosting the Super Bowl this year, to revoke the 30-second ad called “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.”

"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," Jehmu Greene, president of the Women's Media Center, told the Associated Press.

Last year, the National Football League and NBC (then broadcasting the Super Bowl) elected to nix an advertisement sponsored by the Catholic watchdog group Fidelis, which hailed the success of President Obama overcoming the difficult circumstances of his early life and featured the message "Life: Imagine the Potential."

However one pro-life group says that feminist groups’ obsession with the as-yet-unseen content of the Tebow ad highlights an abysmal ideological attitude when it comes to defending women’s rights and dignity.

“In the three and a half years that I advised FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on indecency issues, I can’t recall one time that NOW ever spoke out about the sexually graphic or misogynistic content on CBS,” Penny Nance, CEO for Concerned Women for America told LifeSiteNews.com. “I find it laughable that NOW has a problem with Tim Tebow sharing his own story. If NOW really cared about women they would stop flacking for the abortion industry and start working on behalf of women.”

Focus on the Family has dismissed the controversy over the upcoming ad.

"There’s nothing political and controversial about it,” said Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for Focus on the Family. “When the day arrives, and you sit down to watch the game on TV, those who oppose it will be quite surprised at what the ad is all about."

With the Super Bowl set to kick off in about two weeks, CBS, which has already reviewed and approved the ad’s script, has given no indication of yanking the Tebow ad.