Soccer Dad

If you support only one choice are you really pro-choice?

I can't say that I understand the controversy.

The ad -- paid for by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family -- is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987 with a theme of "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life." After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim, who went on to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy while helping his Florida team to two BCS championships.

However:

Terry O'Neill, the president of the National Organization for Women, said she had respect for the private choices made by women such as Pam Tebow but condemned the planned ad as "extraordinarily offensive and demeaning."

"That's not being respectful of other people's lives," O'Neill said. "It is offensive to hold one way out as being a superior way over everybody else's."

O'Neill seems to be saying that she approves of choice only if a specific choice is made. Why, exactly, is an ad in which a woman says that she's happy she had her child demeaning to others?

It's worth noting that polls consistently show that Americans favor keeping abortion legal along with some restrictions. One of those restrictions is that after the first three months of pregnancy 68% or more oppose abortion. So the idea that a pregnant woman has only one choice, isn't supported by the general population.

Bookworm adds her thoughts.