The Jewish/ Israeli Tebow

Some of the controversy surrounding Tim Tebow’s Super Bowl ad is surprising once you see the ad, which did not even mention abortion! I went to the Focus on the Family website that the ad refers to. There I heard from Tebow’s parents a moving story about how Pam wanted Timmy so much and loved her child in the womb so much that she would be willing to die for him if necessary. Her love and her faith led her to defy the conventional medical advice that she had to abort because she could not both  continue her pregnancy/give birth and live herself. Over and over again, she thought she had miscarried, only to discover Timmy (whom they named in utero, without even knowing whether he was boy!)  was alive. Despite all the conventional knowledge, he was born healthy, alive and kicking, and she was able to fully recover from the illness she had faced while pregnant. A Heisman Trophy winner, he may well become known as the greatest college football player whoever lived.

In traditional Jewish law (halakha) as well as modern understanding, a direct threat to the health of the mother is a permissible reason to have an abortion and in fact, depending on the circumstance, can be considered mandatory because the mother’s life takes precendence. When this actually applies, of course, is the subject of extensive discussion and debate beyond the scope of this blog. (However, we would be happy to connect anyone interested in this issues to rabbis from various denominations, Reform, conservative and Orthodox).

Because of this background, I think many would take the Tebow’s story and choice to give birth to be a uniquely Christian one.

But in fact, it is not.

Barely two years after surviving the hellfire of the Holocaust, a Jewish woman in a small Romanian town became pregnant.

The doctors in the Romanian town were adamant. There was no way that this skeletal young thing, weighing exactly forty kilograms (88 lbs), would survive this pregnancy. Her body was still too weak, too ravaged by hunger and disease, to sustain a new life. Not her life, and not that of her baby. The doctors insisted that, in order to save her life, an abortion must be performed immediately.

She was steadfast in her refusal. “Even if it costs me my life,” she vowed, “I will do all I can to bring a new generation to the world. I will do my share to restore some life to our stricken and wounded People.”

She was warned time and again, “You are endangering your life. Your body will not survive what you are doing to it.” When she finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy, she and her husband were overjoyed. They had twice been granted the priceless gift of life, for themselves and for their child.

Thus was born a child called Aaron, born to parents who after witnessing and surviving such destruction could not bring themselves to destroy life. He grew up to become a great general of the Israel Defense Forces, serving today to protect the Jewish state with outstanding valor and brilliance. (Excerpted from Efrat)

I would say that it is profoundly Jewish to fight to bring new life into the world, especially in the face of great odds. To be willing to take risks out of love for their unfolding children, this is also Jewish.

Most women who consider abortion are not facing severe medical risks, but in their own world, having a child may be no less frightening than as if they were. Perhaps its frightening because she is being pressured by the baby’s father to abort, or her parents. (Sadly, one study published in the Medical Science Journal found that 64% of American women studied experienced pressure to abort.) Or perhaps she has dreams that she feel will be shattered if she gives birth to the baby. Or perhaps because she already has a child or more and doesn’t have financial resources for another. Abortion, inherently, is a choice made by a woman in crisis and under stress.

I often wonder how often the choice to abort is actually a “choice”.  Choice implies the experience of freedom. If a woman is terrified of the future and she doesn’t believe that she can overcome the challenges in front of her, she does not experience freedom. She can make a decision, she can react to the circumstance, but she cannot freely choose.  How often is the “choice” to abort made from fear, without a woman experiencing she has other “real” options?

That’s why our work is so important. Because women cannot freely choose when they are afraid. They can choose when they are fully supported and empowered.

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Tags: abortion, Jewish, pro-choice, pro-life, Superbowl ad, tim tebow