Tim Tebow Book “Through My Eyes” Shares Family’s Pro-Life Story

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jun 6, 2011   |   11:47AM   |   Denver, CO

Tim Tebow has become a star within pro-life circles — and for good reason. The popular Denver Broncos quarterback and former college football superstar and his family have become leading pro-life spokespeople thanks to their story.

By now, most people are familiar with Tebow — who made his Christian faith the basis for his football success and who has inspired a generation of young people with his morals and values. Those values came in part because of the story Americans know almost personally thanks to the famous Super Bowl commercial featuring Tim and his mother Pam and the media focus on how she famously reject a doctor’s request to have an abortion of Tim when she was pregnant with him in the Philippines on a mission trip, where she became severely ill.

Tim has a new book out this week, titled “Through My Eyes,” and an advanced copy LifeNews received from publisher HarperCollins shows Tim Tebow recounting his mother’s decision to put aside the doctor’s advice to have an abortion to save her life and give birth to her son, whose NFL football jersey became the best-selling jersey of any player even before he took his fist snap as a quarterback for the Broncos.

“A number of times they were certain they had lost me,” he writes about the crisis pregnancy.

“An abortion is the only way to save your life,” he says of what the doctor told his mother.

Tim recounts his mother telling him of what the doctor said, “According to her, the ‘mass of fetal tissue’ or ‘tumor’—me—had to go,” and he says his parents left that doctor’s visit “shocked and a bit numb, but resolute in what course they would take.”

When they decided against the abortion, Tim Tebow says his parents felt “an unexpected and indescribable peace. God’s peace.”

“Miraculously” the bleeding Pam faced subsided and, after they flew to Manilla for the birth, Tim says he was “followed immediately by a blood clot that was bigger than I was.”

The attending physician told his Father, “Mr. Tebow, your child is a miracle baby. I can’t explain how it happened, but despite all odds, he beat them. Only a small part of the placenta was attached, but it was just enough to keep your baby nourished all these months.”

“Mom had surgery when I was a week old, and she finally became to recover after the health challenges of many months. The doctor told my parents that if we had not come to Manila, Mom probably would not have survived my birth,” he recalls. “My mom, dad, and family were so grateful for my safe arrival and thanked the Lord for His protection of both my mom and me.”

Tebow appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News and said “I still get asked about it quite a bit,” concerning the pro-life Super Bowl commercial Focus on the Family ran, but he added that being the “miracle baby” left him feeling “very blessed to have the opportunity to tell that story.”

A followup poll conducted by Barna Group, a Christian research firm, found the pro-life ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother Pam connected with Super Bowl viewers. The study finds most people understood the pro-life message behind the ads and millions eventually went to the Focus on the Family web site.

Barna conducted a national telephone poll with 1,001 adults from February 7 through February 10, including interviews on the evening the Super Bowl ad aired.

Among those who viewed the football contest, 43% said they had seen the Tebow commercial and 9 percent were able to recall the spot without prompting. With the high level of viewership of the Super Bowl, (a record 106 million Americans watched it) that means 27% of all Americans, excluding those who may have watched the commercial online after the game, watched the pro-life commercial. The ad appeared to have a significant impact with 4 percent of those viewing saying it caused them to reconsider their opinions on abortion.