This evening, in the biggest media event of each year--the Super Bowl--there will be an anti-abortion advertisement celebrating the life of Tim Tebow, whose mother, Pam, had a choice to make several years ago.
First of all, let me say that no one is a bigger fan of Tim Tebow than I am. I have season tickets to Gator games and have lost my voice on several occasions during the last four years cheering for his accomplishments on the field.
Tim has also been a wonderful person off the field in reaching out to help others less fortunate than himself. The stories of his interaction with children with terminal diseases, and stories about Tim spending Spring Break or summer vacations in the Phillipines assisting doctors to provide medical care to the poor are admirable.
I'm glad that Tim Tebow's parents had the ability to provide for him and to care for him and made a choice to bring him into the world knowing that it might be a challenge and might not work out so well. If Tim had not become a superstar, his parents would have been there for him. They were older and were experienced in parenting. Tim was their fifth child.
But, what about pregnancies that occur without that kind of "Leave It To Beaver" parental support system?
What if the woman who has to make the choice is a teenage child herself with absolutely no parenting skills and no ability to provide a stable home environment for her child? What if the pregnant woman is addicted to drugs? What if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest? What if the prospective parents were abused as children and know deep inside themselves that they will not be good parents and might actually harm the child? What if the pregnant woman knows that due to her financial circumstances, she will never be able to provide the basic necessities (food, prenatal medical care and necessary medical care during the first two years of life when most brain function is maximized), or shelter in a safe and nurturing environment?What if carrying the pregnancy will endanger the woman's own health?
No one wants to abort a pregnancy. It is never an easy decision.
However, it is just as egregious to force a woman to have a child who will be sentenced to a miserable existence. We have enough children in this position already, who need to be rescued from their unfortunate circumstances, right in our own backyard.
The Guardian ad Litem Program in the Hillsborough County courts (and in courts across the other 66 counties in Florida) is begging for volunteers to represent the interests of children who are involved in horrible living situations and need an advocate for the children because their parents are harming them. These children need a responsible adult to look out for them and to report back to the Court what is happening in the child's life so that decisions can be made for their care while they are growing up.
And yet, this year's (Republican) budget in Tallahassee will further cut funding for the Guardian ad Litem Program. It's bad enough that the parents are abusing these children by having them in untenable living situations, but it is even worse that society turns a blind eye to them after they are born. It is tragic that there is not enough money to fund the Guardian ad Litem program and even worse that there are not enough volunteers in the community to advocate for these children after they are born.
Do those in the Right to Life movement see this disconnect? Why don't they put some of their energy into volunteering to fill the vacancies in the Guardian ad Litem program? Walk a mile in these children's shoes. (How about having the proceeds from the "Choose Life" Florida license tags go solely to funding the Guardian ad Litem program?)
No one wants to have an abortion.
Women who choose to have an abortion should not be made to feel guilty or ashamed for that very personal decision. Sadly, that is the message from Tim Tebow's Super Bowl ad.
Perhaps the pregnant woman knows that she cannot, in good conscience, knowingly bring a child into a world where he or she will be harmed.
Not everyone can be Tim Tebow.
The "Anti-Choice Movement" is simply the "Right to Forced Pregnancies Movement". Taking away the right of a woman to control her body is much worse than taking away her freedom of speech! Mostly, the same people who want to force women (and children) to a pregnancy and a birth, are the people who also want to cut all assistance of food and medical care to the great number of poor families, although they know well that babies and children absolutely need food and medical care, in order to survive. The "Anti-Choice" people want to control the bodies and the lives of women, just as the "Masters" controlled completely the bodies of their slaves during the dark ages for human rights in our history! As a former Children and Families Counselor for the State of Florida, I speak from professional experience, obtained from fifteen years of assisting my (mostly needy) clients.
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