A pro-life ad has created a greater stir this year than the Super Bowl game where it will be televised. Tim Tebow, the Heisman-winning collegiate superstar is to be featured in a 30 second ad, funded by Focus on the Family, with his mother. They will tell the story of her high-risk pregnancy when she and her husband were missionaries in the Philippines. Advised to have an abortion, she chose life and Tim Tebow was born.

Those who oppose the Fundamental Right to Life are screaming “No” to this Super Bowl ad. The National Organization of Women and other pro-abortion women’s groups are throwing a yellow flag and crying foul, claiming CBS has a long-standing commitment to avoid controversial advertising.

Erin Matson, Vice-President of the National Organization of Women to Politico, “The abortion debate has no place in the Super Bowl. I organize abortion rights rallies all the time and I recognize how inappropriate it would be for me to sit in the stands with signs at the Super Bowl.”

Matson, along with others, such as Jehmu Greene, President of the Women’s Media Center, and the Feminist Majority Foundation have called for CBS to refuse the ad.

CBS told the Washington Post on Tuesday that it had received numerous e-mails – both critical and supportive – since a coalition of women’s groups began a protest campaign Monday. According to the Post, on Tuesday the network indicated “that the decision to air the Tebow ad reflected a change in its policies toward advocacy ads that has evolved over the past several years.”

CBS said it has approved the script for the 30-second ad and has given no indication that the protest would have an impact. A network spokesman, Dana McClintock, said CBS would ensure that any issue-oriented ad was “appropriate for air.”

The controversy over the ad was raised Sunday when Tebow met with reporters in Mobile, Ala., before beginning preparations for this weekend’s Senior Bowl.

“I know some people won’t agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe,” Tebow said. “I’ve always been very convicted of it (his views on abortion) because that’s the reason I’m here, because my mom was a very courageous woman. So any way that I could help, I would do it.”

In an interview with Politico, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony list, endorsed CBS’s decision. “Women can be trusted with information,” she stated, “and they certainly don’t need to be protected from the idea that if they have a crisis pregnancy that they can choose life.”

Tebow, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, has never been reluctant about sharing his faith in Christ, including writing Bible verses in white on the black smudges under his eyes during games. He will enter the NFL draft this year.

Source: http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]