Is the Anti-Choice Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad a Lie?

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-01-29 14:17:00 UTC
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There's been a flurry of attention surrounding CBS' decision to run an anti-choice Super Bowl advertisement featuring Tim Tebow from the notorious right-wing group Focus on the Family. In the newest twist, the Center for Reproductive Rights asks: is the Tebows' story a big fat lie?

Pam Tebow, Tim's mother, claims in the controversial planned ad that she chose not to have an abortion while in the Philippines, against medical advice. But does this story hold water? The Center for Reproductive Rights sent a letter to CBS pointing out that abortion in the Philippines has been criminalized since 1870, punishable by imprisonment of the woman and her doctor -- no exceptions. While a report from the United Nations indicates that a woman might be able to claim self-defense and get permission from a panel of medical professionals if her life is endanger, the criminal code on abortion does not list threat to the health or life of the mother as grounds for an exception. Women who need abortions turn to illegal procedures which kill many and leave far more with severe health problems.

Thus, Pam Tebow's allegation that she chose not to have an abortion against the counseling of her doctor doesn't seem to square with the facts. As Amanda Marcotte points out on Pandagon, "if women like Pam Tebow don’t have a choice, they don’t get to be heroes. Just victims." And lucky that, in her case, the abortion ban didn't cost Pam her life.

Attorney Gloria Allred warns that if the ad fails to corroborate Tebow's story, if it fails to point out that abortion is criminalized in the Philippines, then it could be "illegal false advertising." CBS could find itself in much more of a pickle if it airs a commercial based on misleading advertising.

So, now we have an ad that might be presenting a fabricated story as fact. This is added onto Focus on the Family's intolerant anti-choice agenda. There's also CBS' no-advocacy ads policy, which led them to reject a United Church of Christ commercial calling for religion to accept diversity a few years ago. Since the uproar started, CBS has opaquely intimated that their policy on advocacy ads changed just in time to run this anti-choice ad. Women's rights groups that have called for the ad to be yanked point out that this is just oh-so-convenient, and they are not okay with this double standard.

And, in the latest twist, the gay dating site Mancrunch wants to run an advertisement on CBS during the Super Bowl. While this is a business commercial, not an advocacy ad, and thus running it would not be equivalent to running the Focus on the Family ad, we're definitely interested to find out if CBS will let us see two dudes making out during the game.

Update: CBS has rejected the Mancrunch ad! Their reason? CBS deems the ad to be "not within the network's broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday." (See Michael on the Gay Rights blog for more.)

So, to recap, two men kissing is totally inappropriate, but an anti-choice, possibly lying ad from an intolerant, anti-reproductive rights, anti-queer organization is just peachy. Thanks, homophobia, for rearing your ugly head. No wonder CBS rejected the queer-friendly United Church of Christ ad a few years ago -- looks like the only standard the network really has is opposition to LGBT-friendly ads.

Photo credit: Ed Yourdon

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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