I've been running into this story all over the Internet for the past few days. A Minneapolis couple is asking for people to vote on whether or not they get an abortion. You can visit their site here.
The couple claim that they want to leave it up to the public to make this important decision so that people can have a real opportunity to make a difference through voting. It's hard to feel like casting a vote makes much of a difference, they imply, so they're offering up the fate of their pregnancy as a concrete example of what a simple vote can do. They post ultrasound pictures and the woman writes updates on how she's feeling, how doctor visits went, etc. The couple encourages voters to think of their pregnancy as their own, weigh the positives and negatives, and make a decision. Voting closes two days before the last date that abortion would be a legal option.
This would be a problematic and controversial issue even if everything they claim was true, but the whole thing is increasingly being seen as an anti-choice stunt. The Arnolds have self-identified as pro-choice, but it's difficult to understand this as anything but an anti-choice tactic. Would anyone really put such an important, personal decision in the hands of strangers just to prove a point about democracy? It seems unlikely. Furthermore, Slate reports that the pair are Glenn Beck fans, who is staunchly anti-choice. Pete Arnold is also said to be a conservative blogger, which further puts their story into doubt.
While this story about one couple's dubious decision to let the public make a choice for them isn't exactly a Big Deal, it is an interesting thing to follow and it's indicative of the passionate debate over abortion in this country. Arguably no other reproductive technology divides people more strongly and definitely. I'd be interested to see what everyone thinks of this; I'm kind of at the eye-rolling stage at this point. I'll leave you with a quote from the Slate article (linked above) that suggests anti-choice antics:
"Putting what you do with your body up to a vote is the anti-choice view. Treating women's bodies like they're public property is the anti-choice view. True, most anti-choicers think a woman's rights should be voted on in order to force childbirth, and they're making this more open-ended, but the underlying sentiment--that women's bodies are public property, that their choices should be determined by strangers--is what the pro-choice movement rejects."
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