By Kathleen Gilbert
February 4, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A mass email issued by the pro-abortion National Organization for Women (NOW) this week is taking advantage of an opportunity presented by the upcoming pro-life Tim Tebow Superbowl advertisement to call for donations.
“Support NOW's work to let CBS know that anti-abortion propaganda has no place in the Super Bowl or at major network offices,” reads the email, signed by NOW president Terry O'Neill.
The advertisement in question, sponsored by Focus on the Family, is expected to revolve around the story of college football star Tim Tebow and his mother's decision not to abort him against the advice of doctors.
Entitled “Celebrate family, celebrate life,” the ad has been greenlighted for airing by Superbowl host CBS this Sunday, despite strong opposition from a coalition of pro-abortion groups.
NOW claimed a rumor was circulating that CBS executives “worked closely with Focus on the Family” to craft the advertisement, and sharply criticized the network.
“Focus on the Family is using the over $2.5 million ad to shame those women who decide to terminate a pregnancy,” wrote O'Neill. “And the possibility that executives at a major network participated in shaping this ad is simply appalling.”
Planned Parenthood has issued a rebuttal to the Tebow ad in the form of a YouTube video, which features two football players supporting a theme of “respect for women's choices.”
In an accompanying press release, Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards insisted that the “true meaning” of Pam Tebow's decision not to abort her son was that “a woman was presented with medical and moral considerations and made a deeply personal decision in private without government interference.”