About That Couple Taking Votes Whether to Abort...
I got a heads up about the blog BirthorNot.com about a month ago.
A pregnant married couple is taking votes whether to abort their baby boy or carry him to term.
The last day of the pregnancy they say they can legally abort in their home state of Minnesota is December 9, a day before the baby is 20 weeks old. And, they say, they will go however the final vote tally goes.
Although the posts appeared plausible when I perused them, the concept had "scam" written all over it. So I didn't buy in. My thought was the couple was trying to punk pro-lifers.
In the last few days the blogosphere has gotten hold of the story, and I've received several emails to write about it. It appears Gawker started the chatter after interviewing the couple, Pete and Alisha Arnold.
The reaction has been most interesting. Pro-choicers think this is a scam against them. Now, while pro-lifers are becoming incensed and begging the couple not to abort, pro-choicers are becoming incensed and wanting the couple to be shot.
Reading more closely what the couple writes, I've come to agree this is a pro-life stunt. A pro-choicer, unless a real sicko, would not go into this sort of detail about the 16-week development of the baby she may abort:
... now approximately the size of an avocado with an average crown to rump measurement of 4.6 inches. This week bones are forming in baby’s ears so that they can start to pick up noises outside the womb. The hair, eyebrows, and lashes are filling in and taste buds are forming.
Pro-choice Amanda Marcotte noted the Arnolds purchased the domain name on May 17, 2010. This was well before Alisha got pregnant, which I estimate was August 4, according to my handy dandy pregnancy wheel.
The Arnolds told Gawker:
During the second pregnancy, the couple bought the birthornot.com domain, and were in the process of deciding whether to put the birth up to a vote when they lost the baby.
But on their website they say:
So the dates don't jibe. The couple said they purchased their domain before miscarrying their second baby but actually bought it the month afterward - when not at all pregnant. In other words, they planned this. This corroborates that this is a publicity stunt of some sort. I wouldn't get too emotionally involved. But I will be watching with interest to see how they play this out. Currently votes are running 81%-19% in favor of giving birth.
Meanwhile, the story has gone international.
- Jill Stanek's blog
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Comments
Wow what a strange story
Submitted by shawn. on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 12:30am.
Taking votes to abort a baby? Some real attention crazed folks out thereWell, if it is a hoax they
Submitted by msh1973 on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 8:42am.
Well, if it is a hoax they are sick...sick either way. God help that little baby if it is true. What has become of our Nation, sigh.....
As someone who was rejected by his birth mother in 1964....
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 12:34am.
...this is disgusting beyond words.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Don't all the pro-choice
Submitted by dr2b on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 1:55am.
Don't all the pro-choice people like to claim that pro-choice didn't mean pro-abortion. But obviously this has turned into a pro-life vs pro-abortion argument. If it was really pro choice why would people be voting for them to have an abortion and not make the choice themselves. Disgusting.
There has to be another way.
Submitted by Ashrak on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 2:29am.
I don't think there is any real doubt to be had that this is a pro-life stunt.
Does that mean it is a bad thing if they are trying to make a point? I suppose it could be viewed that way, and fairly so, because when the voting is all over, there is no doubt that the vote count will reflect that position. Only the hard core abortionist would vote to see a married couple abort a pregnancy just for the sake of doing so. We all know this is not a nation of hard core abortionists - regardless of what mainstream media would have us all think.
It looks to me like they are trying to gain their 15 minutes, and do what they might even think is a beneficial thing demonstrating that the USA is not an abortionist nation. Maybe they are political junkies showing the real danger of unchecked Democracy. Maybe they are looking for a reality T.V. show or book deal - octomom style.
Who knows why they are doing what they are doing. More importantly, who really cares? No matter what, it is attention they seek and they are demonstrating that they can get it. Octomom thought she would live large as a result of her actions and I suppose these folks thought the same thing. But you know what? They are going to be frowned upon just like octomom is - and for the same reason.
No matter how one feels about abortion, it should no more be a political football than it should be a means to greenbacks. I, for one, am as sick of this subject being at the center of politics as much as I am of the race card being endlessly at the center of every general political conversation. Like race, it is used as a wedge issue to drive people apart on the emotional level and muddy the waters of substantial debate. Disgusting and ridiculous it is, imho.
Let me know when the two sides of this debate want to do something besides waste endless amouns of time, energy and treasure arguing over something that will never ever ever see one side suddenly join the other as a result of some moment of insight. A futile path that is- and by design I believe.
In order to find a solution, each position must be brutally honest on the most basic level about what it actually seeks and then try to find common ground from which to work. And no, legal versus illegal is not a legitimate level of solution. No matter which way it is, the "other" side will just continue the battle as it is now.
Pro lifers are, well, pro life. Remember, keep it seriously simple. At the most basic level, this section of people want no termination of a pregnancy once it has begun. OK, leave it there. Honorable and straightforward.
Pro Choicers, at the root, want to preserve the Liberty and sanctity of the individual's own body. There is due merit in that position - if Liberty is important. On the most basic level on this side, the goal is not being pregnant. Also honorable and straightforward.
So how about we look for a commonality that both sides could say accomplished these basic goals? What if instead of endlessly arguing against each other, both sides had a common purpose to pursue facilitating a positive outcome for both sides?
Think In-Vitro. There was a time when it was "impossible". Though we all know that was never really true, it once was thought of as such. So hear me out.
I envision all the resources spent opposing each other being combined to actually end this drama filled nightmare. I wish for the technological advancement affoding the ability to remove an ongoing pregnancy from an unwilling host female and implant that entity into a willing host female This solution would have to make both sides happy because it satisfies the basic heart of the matter for both. If it didn't then either side would have to admit some pretty ugly things about themselves in what it is they truly seek.
To be sure this is a tremendous hurdle to jump. Without a doubt, it isn't something that can be done next week. But you know what? To me, it seems like a much better path to be on, one where folks can work together instead of against each other, than the one this country's people have been on my entire lifetime.
I long for the day that not even one more abortion takes place. I long for the day this suject isn't the focus of every election. I long for the day that individual Liberty isn't usurped and called an acceptable solution. I long for the day when people realize that removing choice is never the answer but that expanding it certanly is. Adoption is a good example - proving that expansion of choice works. However, that alone isn't the solution for far too many. Abortion doesn't need to be illegal, it needs to be not chosen. Laws, code and statue don't stop actions, they are just vehicles used to punish actions taken. When there is a viable alternative that fits the desired choice, it will be embraced.
If a female could no longer be pregnant and no termination of pregnancy occurs in the process, who can honestly believe another 40 million leave that alternative lay and choose abortion instead?
Many scoff at my position and i am sure some always would even if it was all doable this instant. But then they would have to admit they want the argument more than they want a solution. They would have to admit that they want control over another and they want it their way - like Burger King - no matter what. And then they would be exposed as not embracing Liberty nearly as much as they claim to.
I refuse to believe that there is no solution, that my grandchildren will face the same tired and trite debate about this subject that my ancestors did, that exists today. I have faith in my fellow human kind to look to Liberty as the solution, not as the problem. If we as a people continue on the path we have long been on, more and more foolishness, as exhibited by these jokers holding a vote, will come to pass. By God, we are better than this. We are smarter than this. We have a stronger moral compass than this.
Free will works, when it is trusted and nurtured and explored and cherished as sancrosanct. It is political will that leaves me to wonder.......
PRO-LIFE Stunt???
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 8:37am.
Are you serious??? You think this is a pro-life stunt???
You think that removing an unborn child from one woman and placing it in another's uterus is a solution???
Oh, yeah, that really respects the sanctity of life.
Sheesh.
You Betcha
Submitted by Ashrak on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 11:11am.
Motherbelt - Yes, I am serious. Yes, I think this couple is engaged in a stunt of some kind, or a combination of kinds. Only they themselves know what their true intenet really is. I can see some angles that don't even have anything to do with abortion itself. I also take note of the fact that there are so many angles here that all sides can argue for or against either side and have plenty of ammo to do so. Maybe that is the method of their madness. When it comes down to it, none of that even matters.
You bet I think what I wrote is a solution and I know it is absolutely respecting the sanctity of life when Life,Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are all preserved together. I know this to be true, two litle boys, a set of twins who live down the street from me, only exist in this world today because of in-vitro, because of that science. I know many who will call that science an abomination when arguing religion in a forum- but you know what? I also know that not one of them could look at those two boys in the eyes and even so much as question the sanctity of their lives much less have the guts to tell them to their faces that the process by which they came to exist to grow within their mother is wrong and must be banned. There is nothng more precious in this world than young ones - though some will mistakenly put their idoleogy, which is often times religion based, before them. It appears as if you are one of those people.
It is my hope you will think about those twins I told you about. Think deeply about the sanctity of their lives. Ponder about what is more important - religious decree or life itself.
You can say "sheesh", throwing your hands up in the air in disdain, all you like. It's not as if you are the first to do so in response to my position and you certainly won't be the last. It's a Liberty thing and not only will I defend your right to do so on a webpage but would gladly lay down my life willingly to protect it outside the cyberworld. Ths is true even if you end up being one of those I describe who is faced with admitting things about themselves. I believe, without doubt, that this path is the way to see abortion end among humanity.
Me - I will continue to have and share a open mind toward any and all possibility that will finally see this Nation and her people turn away from the path of needless destruction of what may just grow into what future history records as the curer of all cancers or creator of the most beautiful picture or maybe even the one who actually united this world's people with peace and prosperity. Remember, destroying pregnancy and destroying Liberty are both properly called abortions.
Instilled within our humanity is this thing called free will. A gift endowed upon us by our Creator is not something that can just be set aside as if it does not exist. That it is so easily done today may well be the reason there is so much despair in this world. Only when this gift is observed, accepted, respected, protected and defended by exercising it willfully can our salvation and along with it the sanctity of life itself be truly realized.
Regards, motherbelt.
I really don't know how much further our society can sink...
Submitted by PrairieSky on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 2:35am.
based on disgusting, unspeakable crap like this...Whether this is a stunt or not, and I'm praying that it is, this whole concept is jaw-droppingly reprehensible, whatever the true intent may be. If a stunt, then it is a completely backward attempt to help their "cause', whatever that is. If it isn't a stunt, then these people have sunk so low, that nothing on this Earth (or in Heaven either) can help them, and they will have a lot to answer for someday.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction...It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them (our children) to do the same." ~President Ronald Reagan
I believe its merely a money
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 2:40am.
I believe its merely a money making scheme. A couple found out how to make some money online. It is a stunt and they are profiting from it.
I agree, Dan..
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 8:37am.
it's a stunt, and a positively deplorable one.
These people, IMO, are depraved.
the internet has made it possible for everyone to creat their own 15 minutes of fame...or notoriety, in this case.
You have to wonder if she will "live blog" the abortion if it comes down to that.
Motherbelt
Submitted by Norto on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 11:49am.
Have to admit the results are interesting. Seems there is a strong feeling for life.
It's Obama's fault this is
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Fri, 11/19/2010 - 8:36am.
It's Obama's fault this is happening.
Barack_Must_Go.....