Tim Tebow’s pro-life Super Bowl ad, sponsored by the conservative advocacy group Focus on the Family, has sparked outrage among the liberal community. The ad, featuring the star UF quarterback, tells the personal story of Pam Tebow, who chose to go through with the pregnancy instead of having the doctor-recommended abortion. The baby, of course, became one of the most successful football stars in college sports history.
According to the ad’s critics, it is an assault on a woman’s rights, despite the fact that it is, indeed, a television advertisement, and is absolutely unrelated to abortion legality. Evidently, these leftist groups are fully supportive of a woman’s right to choose – unless they choose NOT to get an abortion. The irony has apparently been lost on them (much like the Muslim protesters who firebombed churches and Western establishments to protest the unfair portrayal of Islam as a violent religion. Doh!)
In my mind, this is a textbook case of a non-issue; Tebow has a right to free speech, and can express any opinion he wants. The leftist groups have a right to free speech, and can criticize it all they want. I wasn’t planning on addressing this issue at all (like I said, it’s a non-issue. Besides, I never go out of my way to defend a Gator). That is, until today, when I read an article by the Huffington Post challenging the legality of the ad.
That’s right, the legality. Prominent lawyer Glorida Allred has claimed she will file a complaint with the FCC and FTC over the ad, which she claims violates federal law because it contains “falsehoods”. Pam Tebow, while pregnant, was visiting the Philippines when she fell ill. The doctors recommended she abort the pregnancy, which she declined. Apparently, abortion is illegal in the Philippines, and it is therefore unlikely (though not necessarily impossible, mind you) that a doctor would recommend an abortion. Failure to disclose this tidbit might make it a legal case.
To me, this is just a case of liberals trying to protect their monopoly on propaganda. It’s perfectly okay for leftist groups to launch pro-choice, pro-environment, anti-global warming ads, but the minute a conservative group runs an ad, it becomes a personal affront to every woman in America and their right to choose. The “falsehood” of the ad has no bearing on its message – Mrs. Tebow still chose to keep the baby, and chose not to get an abortion. Whether or not the question arose during a trip to the Phillippines is irrelevant.
In a free society, you have to tolerate all speech, not just the speech you agree with. That’s how free speech works.
I wonder what the ACLU thinks about this?
Tom is a Political Science/International Affairs major from St. Petersburg, FL. After he earns his B.S./B.A. from Florida State University, he plans on attending Law School. Currently, he contributes to both Informed-Dissent.com and "The Daily Loaf" section of Creative Loafing, an alternative news publication in Tampa, FL.