CBS suddenly decides to accept advocacy ads--as long as they encourage women to ignore their doctors

Years ago, moveon.org wanted to run an advocacy ad about war in the Bush Administration during the Super Bowl. The network refused, citing their policy not to run advocacy ads during the SB. Now, years later, an advocacy ad from Focus on the Family will appear during the SB, supporting the pro-life movement.

Furthermore, CBS has refused to allow Planned Parenthood to buy airtime to run an ad countering the dangerous message that the "Tebow Ad" contains. So on ChristianPost.com, Dr. Richard Land has written an article that is so dishonest that it boggles the mind, lying and ignoring the facts to an extent that puts the Southern Baptist Convention to shame. He is president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission run by the Convention. Here is part of the article he wrote:

"Why are groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Women’s Media Center, and numerous “pro-choice” groups apoplectic over a Super Bowl commercial sponsored by Focus on the Family? Clearly, the commercial’s subject matter has propelled it to the front ranks of controversy in the days leading to the Super Bowl. Entitled “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life,” the ad purportedly (though none of the ad’s critics have actually seen it) tells the story of Florida All-American and Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam."

The story of Pam Tebow is as follows: in 1987, Bob and Pam Tebow were on a mission trip to the Philippines. During their stay, Pam contracted amoebic dysentery and was administered several strong medications to treat her life-threatening illness. Later, doctors urged Pam to abort her pregnancy due to the overwhelming possibility that those medications would cause catastrophic damage to her fetus. She decided not to accept their medical advice and--against all odds--gave birth to a healthy baby. Pam cites her strong pro-life Christian beliefs for her decision to ignore her doctors' advice.

"Why should such a story so threaten the “pro-choice” forces in America that they do not want the vast audiences watching the Super Bowl to see it?" asks Land in his article. "Why not just pay for a commercial of their own advocating the “pro-choice” position? Isn’t the free-speech answer to speech you don’t like, more free speech, advocating a different view? Instead, the “pro-choice” forces are pressuring CBS to reverse itself and pull the ad. Why? I believe it’s because this ad featuring Tim and his mother puts a dramatic human face on unborn children."

No, it isn't about the dramatic human face on unborn children--it's about the dramatic refusal of CBS to sell airtime to Planned Parenthood, although they are fine with Focus on the Family. This is clearly discrimination against a viewpoint. And it is all the more tragic because the reason that Planned Parenthood, NOW and other organizations are "apopleptic" about CBS' decision is because the ad itself carries a message that women should ignore their doctors' advice and just take a chance with their pregnancies.

Haven't we had enough of the headlines about a child dying from untreated diabetes because the parents decided that they would pray instead of giving him/her medication? Parents praying over children to "exorcise" them--based on nothing but fundamentalist hysteria. Children with cancer whose parents refuse to seek medical treatment--until the law steps in and puts the children in foster care, or until the child dies and the parents go to prison for felony child abuse. So now, Focus on the Family has this great idea--have your baby no matter what the doctors say. How do they know that the baby will be damaged?

"If the “pro-choice” forces think they have an effective counter argument to justify the continued wholesale killing of unborn Americans, then they should pay their money and make their case," writes Land, all the time fully aware that CBS has refused to sell the airtime to Planned Parenthood. "I suspect they know they don’t have such arguments and so they descend to the tactic of seeking to silence the arguments of their opponents. I believe they know they are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans, especially those 37 and under, the post-Row [sic] babies. I was privileged to take part in the protest against the largest abortion clinic in the Western hemisphere in Houston, Texas, Jan. 18. There were approximately 14,000 people in the protest ... They carried signs which proclaimed, “We survived Roe-Roe won’t survive us!”

So to end his article, Land leaves us with a threat--a last gesture to the murder of Dr. Tiller? I hope my readers understand that this is a real threat, to be taken seriously. These family-loving, devout Christians  shot Dr. Tiller to death in his church on a Sunday morning! This is the kind of emotional and dishonest rhetoric that is being posted on sites like ChristianPost.com to "justify" the running of an ad that will literally cost women their lives (don't listen to your doctor--what does she know?) as it trickles down into the consciousness of millions of women who watch the Super Bowl. And CBS is equally responsible. According to news reports, CBS worked with Focus on the Family to write the ad. CBS refused to grant "equal time" advertising, despite the fact that the Tebow message is clearly an advocate for a position, based on religion.

If a woman consciously decides to carry a risky pregnancy, based on Pam Tebow's one-in-a-million "I lucked out and so can you" message, and suffers a tragically afflicted baby or dies in delivery, I hope she or her family will sue Focus on the Family and CBS. Win or lose, cost them as much money as you can. Get them back into the media spotlight over this insane, deceitful ad that literally asks women to disregard medicine and science.