This article originally appeared on FoxNews.com on January 29, 2010.
Why Is NOW So Afraid of a Pro-Life, Pro-Family Ad?
By: Marjorie Dannenfelser
As a mother of five, I can only say I’d much rather have my children watch the Tebow story than the hundreds of other things they might see during the Super Bowl.
What is the National Organization for Women afraid of? Apparently a touching story about a courageous woman who chooses life in the face of adversity is just too much to take. And when her football star son decides to share that story on Super Bowl Sunday, well, that goes too far. It’s “divisive.”
NOW and its affiliate organizations the Feminist Majority and Women’s Media Center are condemning the Super Bowl advertisement featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam, calling it an offensive “anti-choice” ad.
Could you imagine anything more ironic? The organization that purports to embrace women and “choice” is desperately clamoring to shut down the most loving choice of all: the choice for life. Yet the women of NOW can’t abide 30 seconds of a heart-warming story. What would producers at Lifetime Television say?
Let’s be real. What’s the worst case scenario here? That if Americans hear this message they will choose to make sacrifices in order to have a child and bring a wonderful life in to the world? That’s hardly an abhorrent message.
These groups are not “for” women and they don’t want them to have a “choice.” They only want women to “choose” the path of abortion. Never mind that abortion has been shown over and over to be destructive in numerous ways, both physically and psychologically. But, *please* don’t tell people that there are alternatives.
In their efforts to cling to the old feminist mantra that we somehow “need” abortion, NOW sells American women short. They assume that women are so weak-brained and easily manipulated that they must be protected from a life-affirming message.
This fracas over the Super Bowl illustrates perfectly how NOW & Co. are losing their grip as their pro-abortion position sinks in public opinion. For the first time in decades, Gallup recently reported that a majority of Americans now consider themselves pro-life. The demand by pro-life Americans, and the members of Congress who represent them, insisting that the health care reform package must not include federal funding of abortions has damaged the prospects of getting the health care reform plan through Congress. The March for Life in Washington last Friday was one of the biggest ever attended with tens of thousands of seniors, young people and Americans of every race and creed taking a stand in defense of life.
It is this growing American pro-life majority that has driven NOW to desperation. In an effort to remain relevant, they apparently have become experts at sports. In their words, the purpose of the Super Bowl is to “bring people together.” I’m not sure if you asked Sedrick Ellis of the Saints or Gary Brackett of the Colts if that was their mission that they’d agree. Two teams fighting to the last second to be named Super Bowl champion is a divisive event within itself. If you have any doubts, just ask the fans.
What is divisive are NOW’s attempts to demonize the Tebow family, CBS, and ad sponsor Focus on the Family. In a desperate attempt to keep full information from women, they are attacking the family of an American sports hero with the courage to live out his convictions.
As a mother of five, I can only say I’d much rather have my children watch the Tebow story than the hundreds of other things they might see during the Super Bowl. Somehow I think the majority of American sports fans, women and men alike, will be able to appreciate the blessings of life expressed by the Tebow family. If this beautiful story of family unity, sacrifice and triumph is too harsh on the eyes and ears for so-called women’s groups, I have two words of advice: mute button.
Marjorie Dannenfelser is President of the Susan B. Anthony List, a nationwide network of over pro-life Americans dedicated to advancing, mobilizing and representing pro-life women in the political process.
