By now, we’ve all heard about the upcoming Focus on the Family anti-abortion ad that is to be played during the Super Bowl featuring Tim Tebow. Apparently, some “pro-choice” groups are mad about it.
As both Tom and I have said on this site many times, an assault on one freedom is an assault on them all. You cannot respect the right to privacy without also respecting the right to free speech – and, let’s be honest here, freedom of religion as well.
I believe choosing to end a pregnancy is absolutely one of the most personal issues a man and woman can ever make. Yes, I believe the man has just as much a right in that decision as the woman has – assuming the sex that created the pregnancy was consensual, of course. I do not believe government should dictate it either way, and this is one of those things I think government should “de-legalize”. Again, I am NOT saying it should be criminal, I am saying government should have absolutely no opinion whatsoever in this extremely personal matter.
Personally, I am very much pro-life. I am in a position where I have been told that I will never have biological children of my own, so the abortion issue has become extremely personal to me. A mother choosing not to murder her unborn child, but rather to allow it to live, is the only way I will ever have the honor of being called a dad.
And while my personal views and my personal situation can and should drive my personal actions and advocacy via community organizations and relationships, this issue is none of government’s business, and therefore I cannot allow my personal situation to infringe on another person’s freedom to choose what he and she will do with their pregnancy.
There are a variety of freedoms at play here – speech, association, religion, and privacy at a bare minimum. Both camps here, both on this commercial in particular as well as the abortion debate in general, enjoy all of those freedoms.
Both camps should also respect everyone’s rights to similarly enjoy all those freedoms.
For the sake of disclosure, I also am pro-life. Is the opposition defending “abortion” or “choice”? If they are defending “choice”, then why the hate for a woman who “chose” to have the baby?
But your point is clear. In America, anyone should have the right to buy air time and speak their mind, even on divisive issues. As strongly as I feel about the pro-life stance, I agree that if the pro-choice side wanted to air an ad – it would be their right to do so.
And as a practical matter, what is so contentious about someone being happy their child was born? Our families are subjected to ads for erectile dysfunction, sex lube, liquor, gambling casinos, and Democrat political ads. How can someone get their feelings hurt because someone made a choice to have a baby and it worked out to be a great choice?