Doctors Recommended Football Star Tim Tebow Be Aborted

By Randy Alcorn, Lifesite News

Since I’m working on pulling together a prolife message this weekend, filling in for Bob and Pam Tebow who will be in New England instead of at our church, I thought I would say something about Timmy’s entrance into this world.

I’m pulling from a few different sources, including an interview from Pam and also Tim’s comments in his book, Through My Eyes.

In 1985, the Tebow family, with four children, was living in the Philippines as missionaries. Pam Tebow contracted amoebic dysentery, likely from contaminated drinking water. She fell into a coma and received strong drugs to combat the infection.

It turned out she was pregnant with her fifth child. Those drugs caused the placenta to detach from the uterine wall, depriving the fetus—which I prefer to call the child—of oxygen.

When it was realized that she was pregnant, doctors stopped the drugs but said that the high doses of medicine had already damaged the fetus (you don’t call him or her a baby when you want him aborted, but in fact that “product of conception” was Timmy Tebow, the same person who is now just older and bigger).

The doctors believed there was danger to Pam and that the baby would not survive, or if he did, would have very serious problems.

His parents went to the best doctor in their area of the Philippines. The doctor told his mother in a slow monotone that “An abortion is the only way to save your life.”

As Tim says in his book, “According to [the doctor], the ‘mass of fetal tissue’ or ‘tumor’—me—had to go.”

Pam refused to have an abortion and asked for God’s help. She was in bed rest at a Manila hospital for the final two months of the pregnancy.

Bob and Pam prayed for a healthy baby, but left that up to God.

After Timmy was born, the doctor who delivered him said only a small part of the placenta was attached, but it was “just enough to keep your baby nourished all these months.”

After birth, both Pam and Tim faced serious challenges. Pam said, “We were concerned at first because he was so malnourished.”

Looking at this photo of Tim warming up (right) before last week’s game with the Steelers, I’m thinking malnutrition wasn’t a long term problem. 

Okay, so I’ve told the inspiring story about doctors being wrong—wrong about Pam dying if she didn’t get the abortion, and wrong about Timmy’s long-term health. (By the way, as much as I respect the medical profession, physicians are sometimes wrong in their medical predictions, and even when right they’re not always the best moral guides. That’s why I cringe when I hear people say “abortion should be a decision between a woman and her doctor.” I’ve talked with many women who didn’t have Bob and Pam Tebow’s resolve, but who now wish they hadn’t listened to their doctor when he advised an abortion.)

Returning to the doctors who recommended Pam to abort, suppose they had been right about Timmy having health problems if he survived. Suppose that instead of looking like he does, Timmy had ended up like this boy:

Is this child any less precious in God’s sight than Timmy? No. Should he be any less precious in our sight? No. Would the doctor have been right to advise an abortion in the case of this child? No. A child is a child. He doesn’t have to be a superstar, and he doesn’t have to be “normal.”

Who makes disabled people the way they are? Some people think it’s the devil, many think it’s just a tragic accident. What does the Bible say?

The LORD said to him [Moses], “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Exodus 4:11)

So let’s celebrate that God preserved Pam Tebow and her son Timmy. But let’s also remember there are countless disabled children and families who need our love and support. (Joni and Friends is one of the wonderful organizations EPM supports that serves them.) And that even if the doctor had been right about Timmy’s prognosis, killing him by abortion would have been just as wrong, and just as tragic.

Finally, if you want a refreshing view of the heart and priorities of a professional athlete, check out this video link sent to me by our friend Diane Meyer. Tim Tebow talks here for seven minutes, mostly about prison ministry. Whether Tim Tebow and the Broncos win or lose against the Patriots Saturday is insignificant compared to the values reflected in this video.

LifeNews Note: Randy Alcorn is an author and the founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM), a nonprofit ministry dedicated to teaching principles of God’s Word and assisting the church in ministering to the unreached, unfed, unborn, uneducated, unreconciled, and unsupported people around the world. He has written numerous books and articles on pro-life issues.

John 3:16...Tebow's Arm Delivers The Message

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

John 3:16 was the Bible verse that Tim Tebow was once banned from painting in tiny script onto his eye black.

But the Denver Broncos quarterback nonetheless delivered that Biblical message to the masses Sunday during an overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The score was 29-23. But the game was significant for other -- some might say supernatural -- game-time numbers: He passed for 316 yards against the Steelers, and set an NFL playoff record with 31.6 yards per completion.

For Christians, John 3:16, of course, is arguably the single most important verse in the Bible. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16 was the most Googled search term for much of Sunday evening and into Monday morning, as sports fans and non-sports fans alike tried to make sense of the statistical coincidences (and maybe brush up on the Bible).

Oddly enough, Tebow himself did not seem to make a connection between his game stats and the Bible verse that he used to paint in white on top of his eye black until the National Football League barred all such personal messages.

But he did praise the Lord, as he has done throughout his career, a practice that has gained him plenty of fans and critics. "First and foremost I just want to thank my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He’s done so much in my life," Tebow said to the media after the game.

Although he can no longer paint John 3:16 on his game face, Tebow still keeps it close, using it to sign off a message to fans on his website.

Tebow earns $250K bonus

The Denver Broncos' victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday turned into a nice payoff for quarterback Tim Tebow in more ways than one.

Tebow has an escalator of $250,000 in his contract for each playoff victory assuming he participated in at least 70 percent of Denver's plays during the requisite season, according to an NFL source.

Being that he played 73 percent of Denver's plays this season, Tebow cashed in on a quarter-million salary escalator after his latest shocker -- an 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime Sunday to beat Pittsburgh 29-23 in the wild-card playoffs.

The play, according to Twitter, spawned a record 9,420 tweets per second.

Tebow could earn another $250,000 with another victory Saturday night at New England against the Patriots in a divisional-round game.

Denver's victory, meanwhile, altered offensive coordinator Mike McCoy's immediate itinerary.

McCoy was scheduled to interview in Jacksonville on Monday for the Jaguars' head coaching job if Denver had lost Sunday, according to an NFL source.

The interview will have to be rescheduled. McCoy is allowed to talk with the Jaguars this week, but it will be challenging with the Broncos' short week of preparation for Saturday's game.

Adam Schefter is ESPN's NFL Insider.

Suspended for 'Tebowing'

By Ed Morrissey

There’s nothing like parental and/or school overreaction to a momentary fad for headlines and commentary, is there?  Whether it’s the overblown “sexting” craze, “rainbow parties,” or the pregnancy pact that spawned a really bad TV movie, it’s always a moment forimmediate action — which isn’t to say that some action is entirely unwarranted.  In New York, a high school has suspended some of its students for creating a “hallway hazard” for …. Tebowing:

The Tebow mania sweeping the nation sacked a group of Long Island high-school students who were suspended for mimicking the quarterback’s famous prayer pose.

Twin brothers Tyler and Connor Carroll of Riverhead HS and classmates Jordan Fulcoly and Wayne Drexel were hit with one-day suspensions for kneeling and bowing their heads like Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow does when he scores a touchdown.

Administrators said the weeklong “Tebowing” craze was a distraction and a hallway hazard after dozens of classmates followed their lead. …

About 40 students had been gathering in the hallway all week emulating Tebow.

School administrators said the stunt jammed the hallway, making students late for class, and was a fire hazard.

“This is not about religious discrimination,” said Riverhead School District Superintendent Nancy Carney. “It is about being sure kids are able to get to class on time and keeping the kids safe and orderly.”

Well, just how dangerous was it?  Having 40 students kneeling in the hallway certainly generates a distraction and arguably a fire hazard, too. Tebow fans at the school could have conducted their demonstration at recess out in an open space rather than the hallways, so the school has a legitimate beef. However, it hardly seems like the kind of “dangerous” situation that warrants suspensions.  The school claims they warned the brothers to stop, which the brothers dispute, but a detention or two would have sufficed, at least in the sense of having the punishment fit the crime. The school appears to have lost some perspective in their haste to stem the Tebow tide.

Fox News devoted a segment to it today, and Judge Andrew Napolitano explains that the school couldn’t punish students for actual prayer, but they certainly could for just honoring an athlete in a disruptive manner:

The school needs to keep the hallways clear, but suspending students for Tebowing is a bit of an overreaction, especially for a passing fad like this. I’m not sure how it will survive Denver’s game with New England this week, anyway.