Focus on the Family has succeeded in purchasing a 30-second ad for the Super Bowl broadcast that will feature Tim Tebow and his mother Pam Tebow recounting her pregnancy with him in a pro-life inspirational message.

Tim Tebow, of course, just finished his career as a quarterback for the Florida Gators, a career in which he won two national titles and became the first sophomore to win the Heisman trophy. He is an outspoken Christian known for wearing bible verses on his eyeblack, a former homeschooler, and a missionary during summers. When pregnant with him in 1987, Pam got sick during a missionary trip to the Philippines, and suffered a placental abruption. Her doctor, thinking that the baby would be stillborn, recommended that she have an abortion to protect her own health. Obviously she disregarded that recommendation, and today Tim is 6’3″, 240 lbs.

Pro-life groups like Focus on the Family have been trying to get ads in major broadcasts like the Super Bowl and the American Idol finale for a long time. For instance, CatholicVote unsuccessfully attempted to get a similar video about Barack Obama’s mother’s decision to raise him into the 2009 Super Bowl.

It’s hard to overstate Tebow’s stature in the college football world, but one indication is that, according to the Davie-Brown Index, he is already more marketable than any NFL quarterback other than Peyton Manning. To have such a popular and universally liked star promoting their pro-life message is a major win for Focus on the Family, assuming that NBC CBS follows through and actually airs the ad on Feb. 7th.

The pro-choice camp never wanted to see NBC allow any message like this to air on such a huge TV event, understanding that such a story can’t help but lend emotional tones to the pro-life message. Don’t be surprised to see pro-choicers suddenly worried that Tebow is destroying his commercial appeal with a divisive ad (i.e. showing character) or even grumbling that Pam Tebow’s decision not to abort Tim was based in “invalid” logic (really).