The Reflector

When I first heard Focus on the Family had produced a pro-life Super Bowl commercial starring Tim Tebow, I didn't really care.

"Well, they exercised their right to free expression," I thought. "No big deal." Plus, I like Tebow about as much as it's possible to like a player from another SEC team, so I've never been very critical of him.

But then I looked further. CBS has a policy of not airing commercials with controversial topics. You won't see any politician's ad, and CBS even rejected a commercial from a gay dating site.

But if abortion's not a controversial topic, I don't know what is. It reminds me of a very awkward dinner last summer: I was eating at Stromboli's with a few friends, and somehow the topic of abortion came up. Unfortunately, the group included an avid pro-lifer and a belligerent supporter of abortion rights. They began shouting and neither would let it go. Surrounding tables easily overheard and soon the entire restaurant was very uncomfortable.

Is this scene what you want at your Super Bowl party?

For whatever reason, most people just can't sit down and calmly and rationally discuss the issue. On most political issues, people either don't really care or at least can agree to disagree, but so many people just refuse to do that on abortion.

(Actually, I'm not one of those people. I don't have a strong opinion on the issue, so don't write me off as some militant pro-choicer. I'm trying to look at this logically.)

And if this were just some everyday commercial, it might be fine. It's hardly the only controversial subject to have an ad.

But this is the Super Bowl. It's supposed to be about Americans coming together to have fun and watch a football game. It's not supposed to tear us apart.

Think about people you know with strong opinions on abortion and how they react when others disagree. And when you consider how often people like to drink at Super Bowl parties, this is a recipe for disaster. I predict this commercial will spark heated debates and ruin parties in homes and bars across the country.

That's just not what the Super Bowl is supposed to be. "Saints or Colts" should be the only controversy Sunday night, not a heated political debate over an issue that is unlikely to reach a resolution in our lifetime.

Also, be prepared if you're planning to watch the game with young kids and don't want to have to explain to them what abortion is. Although the commercial is apparently not going to use the word "abortion," telling the story of choosing life in a pregnancy is bound to raise some questions, and during the Super Bowl may not be when you want to discuss the subject.

To me, though, the biggest problem with the commercial is that it's simply irresponsible. Tebow's mother, Pam Tebow, was a Christian missionary in the Philippines when she was pregnant with him. She contracted amoebic dysentery, and as a result of the strong medication for it, doctors told her the fetus had become damaged. The odds favored a stillbirth, and she was advised to have an abortion to save her life.

Because of her strong Christian faith, she refused. And by either divine intervention or luck, she and the baby survived, and Tebow grew up to be perhaps the greatest college football player ever.

And that's a great story. Unfortunately, though, for every great success story like Tim Tebow, there are so many more stories of risky pregnancies in which the woman chooses to rely on faith instead of probability, only for both her and the baby to die.

Those women aren't around anymore to film their own commercial. This phenomenon is known as survivorship bias. Of course we only hear about women who beat the odds, because they're the only ones who can possibly tell of their experiences.

I find it highly irresponsible of Pam Tebow to implicitly advise women in the situation she was in to ignore the odds.

Harry Nelson is the opinion editor of The Reflector. He can be contacted atopinion@reflector.msstate.edu.

Editor's note: Outgoing Florida quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow is scheduled to appear in a commercial during Sunday's Super Bowl. The commercial was made by Focus on the Family, a Christian group who's Web site describes its mission as "to strengthen, defend and celebrate the institution of the traditional family." The exact details of the commercial have not been revealed, but it will apparently feature the story of Tebow's mother, who ignored doctor's advice and chose not to have an abortion when she was pregnant with him. Groups on both sides of the political aisle have risen up in opposition or support of the commercial.

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