As you may already know, James Dobson's old group of ultra-right-wing fundamentalists, Focus on the Family, has spent millions of dollars to show two advertisements during the Super Bowl. The ads will show Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, and will relate how she chose to go ahead and have him even though it supposedly endangered her life.According to the story told by the Tebows, Mrs. Tebow and her husband were missionaries in the Philippines when she became pregnant with the future Florida quarterback. They say the pregnancy caused medical problems for Mrs. Tebow, and a Philippines doctor recommended she have an abortion. She refused, and everything turned out all right.
It's bad enough that these fundamentalist christians seem to be urging women who need a medically necessary abortion to save their lives, to ignore the advice of their doctors and put their lives at risk. Indeed this religious and political advice could (and probably will) actually cause the death of some misguided young women. These fundamentalists don't seem to mind killing off a few thousand women as long as they can force their religious viewpoint on millions of others.
But now we find that the story told by the "christian" Tebows may not even be true. The fact is that abortion has been illegal in the Philippines since 1930. There are no exceptions to this law -- not even to save the life of the mother. Any doctor caught performing an abortion would have received at least a six-year prison sentence (and six years in a Philippine prison can seem like a lifetime). It is extremely doubtful that any doctor in that country would have recommended an abortion, let alone performed one.
I don't doubt the right of Focus on the Family to buy TV ads to further their reprehensible point of view, but I think CBS needs to investigate and see whether the ad they will be airing is truthful or just a big lie. If it is a lie, then it should not be aired at all. Famous attorney Gloria Allred says she will lodge complaints with the FCC and the FTC "if this ad airs and fails to disclose that abortions were illegal at the time Mrs. Tebow made her choice."
Like everyone else, the fundamentalists have the right to forward their point of view thanks to our secular free speech rights. But they don't have the right to make up their own facts and tell lies to do it.
"A study using an indirect methodology estimated that in 1994, there were 400,000 induced abortions in the country and 80,000 women hospitalized for complications of induced abortion."
ReplyDeleteSource: The Incidence of Induced Abortion in the Philippines: Current Level and Recent Trends
by Fatima Juarez, Josefina Cabigon, Susheela Singh and Rubina Hussain in International Family Planning Perspectives, Volume 31, Number 3, September 2005 (posted online by the Guttmacher Institute, the research branch of Planned Parenthood)
Another possibility: The Philipino doctor advised Mrs. Tebow to return to the States, where abortions certainly were legal in 1987.
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to the Tebows' story, as told in 2007. No mention of whether the doctor who advised her was even Philipino; she could have been back in the States on furlough at the time.
Also, it appears that her life wasn't in danger, just Tim's (or at least there was the possibility he could have suffered some kind of "irreversible damage").
Let's all take a deep breath and wait until next Sunday to see what the ad actually says. Then we can all choose how to react to it.
After all, Ted, you are pro-choice, aren't you? :)
"I don't doubt the right of Focus on the Family to buy TV ads to further their reprehensible point of view, but I think CBS needs to investigate and see whether the ad they will be airing is truthful or just a big lie. If it is a lie, then it should not be aired at all."
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't doubt the right of Budweiser to buy TV ads to further the consumption of their product by showing a lot of good looking men and women having a great time while downing a couple of Buds. That's not very truthful, is it?
But just as most sane people realize that drinking beer doesn't automatically make your life happier, most sane people realize that bringing a pregnancy to term doesn't automatically mean you're going to give birth to a Heisman Trophy winner.
Whether it's Focus on the Family or The King of Beers, the goal of any advertisement is to present a point of view in the most positive light possible. But ultimately, it's the viewer's choice.
Speaking of points of views, what's so "reprehensible" about choosing life? If either of us had been born after 1973, and our mothers had chosen to abort, we wouldn't be having this debate right now.
I find quite a lot about Focus on the Family that I consider reprehensible, but especially when they try to convince women to have babies when it's not in their medical interest. Instead of choosing life, it could very well be choosing death.
ReplyDeleteThey need to be more concerned with the health and educational needs of all the American children that are already here. Once they have that covered, then they can start worrying about about womens bodies.
ReplyDeleteThere quite a few children suffering world wide as well, we might want to help those ones too.
The rate of miscarriage is higher than the abortion rate. So you're missing out on conversation with all the miscarried souls too.
ReplyDeleteDoes 'Curious Texan' have a uterus? I'm guessing no.
Andrea-
ReplyDeleteYour guess is correct.
"Does 'Curious Texan' have a uterus? I'm guessing no."
ReplyDelete"Andrea-
Your guess is correct."
Correct on both counts. But Pam Tebow does.
What makes her opinion any less valid than Andrea's (much less Ted's)?
Nothing does. She chose to do as she saw fit with her own body, which is fine by me. What is less fine is intruding on the personal autonomy of others.
ReplyDeleteTed is a sympathetic soul because he understands that he will never face this issue as intimately as a woman does. We are the ones whose bodily control is in dispute.
Andrea:
ReplyDeleteThis Sunday, two 30-second commercials will air during the Super Bowl about the intimate decision of one woman and the consequences of that decision. Everyone (male and female alike) will have the choice to either accept or reject the relevance of her decision to their own lives.
When we all get up on Monday morning, Roe v. Wade will still be the law of the land. How is this "intruding on the personal automony of others"?
I didn't say the *ad* would intrude, just like the ad for the gay matchmaking site isn't forcing anything on anybody. But the forced-pregnancy side most definitely does intrude on my personal autonomy. Are you going to deny that they want Roe overturned?
ReplyDeleteAgain, your control over your body is not in dispute here. If it were, you might feel differently.