I was extremely disappointed in Thomas Gebremedhin’s Feb. 4 column “The birth of Tebow.” First, he criticized the ad before watching it, calling it an attempt by CBS to push a political agenda “down the throats of millions of Americans.”

However, this is ad was not exclusively pro-life. Indeed, Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country went out of their way to support it. The ad does not focus on legal merits or the political arguments for or against abortion; instead, it celebrates life and choice. It is an incredible story about a brave woman who despite her painful and complex situation, decided to carry her pregnancy to term and give birth to her son. I find nothing political about that story.

Gebremedhin also throws out statistics that describe the infant mortality and maternal death rates of people in the same situation as Pam Tebow. He describes her outcome, based on her decision to choose life, as ‘lucky’ implying that an abortion would have been safer and posed no threat to her own health, not to mention the life of her baby. He fails to mention the statistics that explain risks of abortion and the research that links abortion to breast cancer, miscarriages in later pregnancies and serious mental health issues.

Everyone talks about the risks involving continuing a complicated pregnancy and the ad simply gives the other side of the story; the joy and happiness Pam Tebow found when she decided to choose life.

Michelle Baretto

President, Duke Students for Life

Trinity ’12