I just...no words...A web poll to decide on an abortion???

[Ree]

http://www.birthornot.com/

What kind of a twisted world is this when a couple trust such a momentous decision to strangers on the internet?

It sickens me that they aren't capable of making this decision on their own without resorting to creating a website and conduct a poll.

They seem to be getting a lot of hateful comments, but they say for every negative one, they get lots of positive.

I weep for society when I see things like this.

I just can't believe it's real.

[crashhelmet]

The only thing that I can think of is they're trolling for attention. Part of me even wonders if it's all written by the same person and how much of it is actually legitimate. The pics used are commonly available on the internet and all of the identifying marks from the pictures are conveniently cropped out.

[Peppergirl]

Oh my God.

I really hope this is fake. Granted, even if it's fake its fucked up, but I'd be even more appalled and disgusted if someone is actually doing this.

I just don't even know what to say

[Eisa]

It's horrible. I say they have the baby and then the poor thing is immediately taken away from them because they cannot EVER take care of ANYTHING. Not even a fucking houseplant.

[The Shadow]

Yes...as it turns out this is totally fake.

Nothing more than an anti-choice publicity stunt. And a pretty pathetic one at that.

Excerpt:

Pete Arnold is an anti-choice troll. He’s upped his game from vandalizing wikis, but it’s just a question of degree, not goal. He and his wife have put together a web stunt to prove either that pro-choicers are callous, bloodthirsty maniacs (which would lead them what Amanda Marcotte predicts is the obvious “change of heart”), or that pro-choicers, faced with the choice to actually “kill a baby that has already been conceived,” will choose not to, because it’s a child, not a choice.

But Pete and Alisha Arnold failed in their trolling, simply because they fundamentally misunderstood the pro-choice view. It’s not surprising; being anti-choice means that you want to decide for others what they must do when faced with the decision to have a child. It’s only natural for them to assume that pro-choicers must want to force women to have abortions against their will. After all, to an anti-choicer, “against their will” is how women should do pretty much everything; it’s just a question of who’s making the decisions for them.

[crashhelmet]

You've got to love how the "Moral Right" can be some of the most unethical and underhanded people in existence.

[Ladeeda]

Backfired in more ways than one. Seems the majority of posters are his anti-choice ilk, citing a lot of "God this and that" nonsense to make the decision for them.

Yup, the Pro-Choicers saying "It's your decision", the Pro-lifers saying "You MUST do this or else!"

Who's surprised?

*cricket chirp*

Thought so.

[tabbyblack13]

This is disgusting. Abortions should only be chosen by the people affected by the decision. That's it. No one else should have a say in it.

This stunt does really damage the Anti-abortion group. It shows how a lot of people how mean these people can be. What if a woman that had an abortion come a cross this site? How would she feel?

It just makes me sad.

[Peppergirl]

To be fair, I know many, many people who are pro life that would never *dream* of pulling a stunt like this, nor would they condone it.

It's just like everything else: The idiocy of a few extremists paint an entire group with an unfortunate brush.

I just wanted to throw that out there...I hate generalizations.

And for the record, I'm firmly pro-choice. The actions of the people that perpetuated this scheme are appalling to me, but I do realize they'd also be appalling to a great number of pro-lifers as well.

[Ree]

To be fair, I know many, many people who are pro life that would never *dream* of pulling a stunt like this, nor would they condone it.

QFT...considering a pro-lifer started this thread and found the whole thing disgusting.

I had my doubts if it was real, and I'm glad it was proven to be a stunt because I would really hate to consider the alternative.

That being said, I think it was one of the stupidest ploys I have ever seen.

[blas87]

This was just a stunt to prove a point?

What the hell point was proved?

[Amanita]

Consider me firmly pro-choice and even I think it's disgusting. Who the hell would seriously decide to abort a child solely on the say of a web poll?

Pro-choice means just that- we uphold the individual's right to choose. Some will choose to have the baby, either keeping it or putting it up for adoption. And some will choose to abort, for whatever reason. Either way, it's their own individual, personal choice. A choice which nobody else should be making for them.

[fireheart17]

This was just a stunt to prove a point?

What the hell point was proved?

That pro-choice folks are lacking in intelligence? (note, I am pro-choice)

[smileyeagle1021]

Consider me firmly pro-choice and even I think it's disgusting. Who the hell would seriously decide to abort a child solely on the say of a web poll?

I could understand someone going to web forumns and asking for input and advice, but not an up and down vote on whether or not to have the abortion.

I'm not surprised that this was set up by a pro-lifer who was hoping to get pro-choicers to tell the woman to get an abortion (rather than tell her it's her choice and offer advice on how she might go about making her decision). I don't think a good number of pro-lifers understand that there is a middle ground between pro-life and pro-death and that is where pro-choice falls in.

[blas87]

I'm pro-choice as well. Choice is the key word.

This is probably going to come out wrong, I am not the best with words, but I feel a lot of times people who are pro-life are a little selfish in the fact that they care more about an unborn baby than the mother. I did not say all or even the majority, just a lot of cases it seems that the mother's health and well being are ignored because we cannot "murder" that baby.

If I may share a story, I know how much a few of you love these, an old friend of mine is currently in a pickle, and situations like these are why I am pro-choice and don't think it's a sin or an awful thing to abort a baby.

For whatever dumb reason, she got involved with an ex-prison rat on parole. Shortly before he violated a term of his parole, she found out she was pregnant. Although this is somewhat extreme, it's still a good example. This girl is either the most inept and depedent person I have ever met in my entire life. She can't keep jobs, can hardly keep a roof over her head unless someone else is paying for it, can hardly keep herself fed unless someone else is buying the nosh for her. She lost a lot of friends because she squatted at their places and never gave them anything and just brought trouble and messes. She has had a well known drinking problem for quite some time. My bf was even certain that after the prison rat told my bf that she was pregnant, he saw her drinking anyway, on top of other stuff she does.

Now this girl is pregnant, and it's too late to abort now, and she intends to keep it, so apparently adoption is out of the picture. Even though abortion is too late for her now, I would have been in favor of her to have aborted it. The child's father is back in prison now for several years, he was on all kinds of drugs and was a boozer, my friend has all kinds of issues, what if the kid has FAS? Not to mention she was spotted drinking while pregnant. There's some early on neglect there.

There are too many kids already who suffer neglect or abuse or have all kinds of problems that were caused by their parents' drinking/smoking/drug abuse, and people like my friend are in no financial position to be able to afford to care for a child like that, even with state assistance.

Before anyone goes hollering that adoption is still an option, there are still 9 months that the baby lives inside the mother. If the mother is that horrible at taking care of herself and cannot stop drinking or taking drugs, that pregnancy is bound to be cursed and very difficult. Not to mention that people like my friend do not have health insurance or won't get it, and can you trust that someone like her would even go to the doctor for all of her checkups? Pre-natal care is vital for the health of a baby. I can't see her going at all, let alone remembering.

While most of the time I am a full advocate of adoption, there are instances where I say it would be best if the baby was aborted, because it would suffer enough in the womb and even more if the mother chose to keep it. Not that there is anything wrong with foster parents, of course not, but what about before that? Why should a baby have to be born to a woman who doesn't want the responsibility or can't even be responsible for herself, all in the name of that we shouldn't kill unborn babies?

I am one of the more conservative people on these sites, and normally the first to grab the pitchfork and scream "Make em suffer the consequences!", but not when it comes to an unborn baby and an unfit mother to be, or even to a girl who gets knocked up but would purposely try to miscarry or would purposely not care for herself.

I am really not trying to make anyone feel bad if they are pro-life, I was just offering a story. Normally I'd agree that we shouldn't just abort babies for no reason, but there are people out there who really should not ever be pregnant or shouldn't be guilted into carrying a baby to term.