By Zachary Gelnaw-Rubin

Members of various conservative groups gathered in front of the midtown headquarters of CBS yesterday to praise the network’s decision to run a supposedly anti-abortion commercial during the Super Bowl.

“We are very excited that CBS has decided to run this life-affirming ad,” said Katie Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition. She wondered aloud why groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) would be opposed to it, contending that the ad supported a woman’s right to choose not to have an abortion.

Meanwhile NOW had issued a statement that the planned ad was “extraordinarily offensive and demeaning,” and that it “could potentially put women’s health and lives at risk by promoting ideology over medicine.”

Network officials have declined comment on the controversy and refused to say how much the ad cost.

The ad was bought by Focus on the Family, a Christian “family-help” organization, which according to its website, has the mission of “healing brokenness in families, communities and societies worldwide through Christ.” According to a press release by Focus on the Family, the ad will feature college football star Tim Tebow and his mother Pam, and will center on a theme of celebrating life.

Though the ad has not been made public, it seemed clear that the Tebows will recount the story of Tim’s conception as an argument against abortion. According to Pam Tebow, while working with her husband as a missionary in the Philippines in 1987, she became pregnant. But due to health complications, she said, the doctors there encouraged her to abort the fetus. She refused, and Tim was born and went on to become a star quarterback for the Florida Gators. The story has been used many times as an anti-abortion anecdote.

The decision by CBS to run the 30-second ad has sparked a controversy across the nation. It is the first time that a network has allowed an issue-oriented ad to run during the Super Bowl, the most viewed television event in America.