Letter to Tim Tebow

Dear Mr. Tebow,

I cannot help but feel that your decision to advocate for the anti-choice movement in a commercial during the Super Bowl is grossly inappropriate. Purportedly your ill mother went against her doctor’s recommendations to have an abortion during her pregnancy with you. Luckily for her and you and the people in your life that hold you dear, she and you both “came through it” all right. However, this was a very unique case; surely you are not trying to suggest that all women go against doctor recommendations to terminate pregnancies in the case of illness? What a bold and dangerous course of action for you to urge others to take. There are many obstetric complications that would result in the death of both mother and baby. In research design, there is a concept called external validity; this refers to the extent which the findings or results from a particular study or experiment can be generalized to a given population. And trying to generalize the very unique situation of your birth to the entire Super-Bowl-watching demographic is statistically and logically flawed.

The problem is that many Super Bowl viewers may not be aware of the concept of external validity or the implications it may have regarding your message and story. Therefore, encouraging women to ignore their doctor’s advice is ignorant, callous, and insensitive on your part- not to mention dangerous.

The chances are very, very good that you will never become pregnant yourself. What makes you feel like you have the right to tell women what they should do with their bodies, especially concerning a situation that you will never encounter yourself? You are a football player. I’d be much more receptive to a message you’d give concerning something like a sports drink, or an athletic shoe. And both of those things would be very fitting for a commercial during a very popular sporting event. However, preaching your political views on a women’s rights and women’s health issue in such a forum strikes me as absolutely ridiculous.

Your personal situation was very unique, and certainly not the fodder for anti-choice propaganda. Hopefully someone in your camp will point these things out to you, and your “message” will not be aired between beer commercials next month.

Signed,

A Footballer-Busting (When Deserved!)Pro-Choice Feminista, in response to this article