The Daily Mail has a piece on a Minnesota couple named Pete and Alisha Arnold who've set up a web site (which just stopped working for me), www.birthornot.com, to let people vote on whether Alisha should give birth or have a late-term abortion.
The couple, from Minneapolis, have uploaded regular scan images of the foetus, which is a perfectly-healthy boy they have nicknamed 'Wiggles'.They claim it isn't a hoax and are (not surprisingly) pro-choice.
Alisha is now 17 weeks pregnant and web users have until December 7 to cast their vote - just two days before the 20-week cut-off line for a state-legal abortion.
The latest results shows a fairly split opinion, with 46.27 per cent voting to keep the baby and 53.73 per cent wanting the couple to have an abortion.
Writing on her blog, Alisha said she fears the pressure of juggling motherhood and a career could cause her to have a nervous breakdown.
She wrote: 'I'm not convinced that I want to change the status quo. I feel that as I age I've actually gotten more selfish and set in my ways.
'I'm afraid that I will eventually regret starting a family and "settling down", as they say.
Some claim the website is a pro-life publicity stunt but the couple have strenuously denied this.
They told U.S. website Gawker: 'We are taking this very seriously. It's definitely not a pro-life campaign, we believe in a woman's right to choose.
UPDATE: Amanda Marcotte thinks its a stunt by prolifers.
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When I went to that website, I did NOT see a place where I could vote. Every effort to learn this information has been unsuccessful so far.
ReplyDeleteHow can they call it a vote when there is no place to put your vote, and it's unclear what to click on to take you to where to vote?
I couldn't vote when I accessed the site about 3 hours ago either. But I just went back and the poll was posted and I voted.
ReplyDeleteApparently pro-lifers have gotten wind of this because now it is 81% in favor of keeping the baby!