Couple Asks Internet To Vote On Whether Or Not They Should Have An Abortion
Finally, there’s something that both the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life camps can agree on (besides the fact that the terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life” are patently ridiculous). That something is the fact that this is really creepy and gross. Last night, Gawker reported on a Minneapolis couple who is letting Internet users vote on whether or not they should have an abortion. I totally understand the impulse. The other day I asked my Twitter friends if it was warm enough for me to go outside without a coat which is totally the same thing…What? No, it’s not? At all? Oh.
Yes, Pete and Alisha Arnold have registered the website BirthOrNot.com (what a shock that that URL wasn’t taken) and are using the Poll Daddy service to ask users to vote on whether or not they should carry their unborn baby to term. You know Poll Daddy. It’s the great service that Styleite uses to ask people what they thought of Emma Watson’s red carpet dress. This is exactly like that…Wait, what? It’s not? I see.
Gawker’s Adrian Chen called up the couple to find out how this whole thing came about:
“Pete told us over the phone that on that day he plans to check Polldaddy’s records to make sure there hasn’t been any double-voting or other evidence of fraud and then he and Alisha will use the results to decide whether to keep the baby. They’ll have two days to make a decision before the 20th week of Alisha’s pregnancy ends, and, with it, her last chance to get an abortion. The poll will influence their decision heavily, the couple said by phone this evening, but it won’t be binding. ‘It’s kind of like Congress. They might vote for something, but the president has the final veto. If it’s overwhelming one way or the other, that will carry a lot more weight.’
That someone would do this is almost impossible to believe, of course. We asked the Arnolds if this was some sort of a prank. ‘No, it’s not. We are taking this very seriously,’ Pete replied. We then asked if this was some sort of convoluted pro-life stunt. Alisha laughed. “It’s definitely not a pro-life campaign,” she said. ‘I believe in a woman’s right to choose.'”
That Congress comparison makes a lot of sense. Congress makes life or death situations all the time and clearly Internet users are just like our elected officials, right?…No, they’re nothing like that? Huh. Good to know.
So, how’s the poll tipping? Well, apparently it’s heading towards abortion. Many believe this to be the work of 4chan who, entirely unsurprisingly, is all over this thing. Yesterday, the couple wrote a post on their site responding to criticism that they should make sure to discredit 4chan votes:
“I understand the frustration some of you hold with our decision to not limit votes from 4chan or remove the vote completely.
I see 4chan as encouraging people to vote in the poll. How they do it is beyond my control and should not influence decisions about what we are doing here. We support people encouraging others to voice their opinions on an issue as large as keeping a baby or not. The whole point of what we are doing is to allow you as an individual to make a difference.”
Good for you, Arnolds! 4chan users should be allowed to have a say in your abortion just as much as readers from any other part of the Internet!
What’s that? No, they shouldn’t? No one should except the parents? Huh. You don’t say.
Check out Gawker’s interview here. And make sure you vote here! There’s only so much time left!
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
