The video: A Minneapolis couple is causing a huge uproar by asking internet users for abortion advice. Pete and Alisha Arnold, both 30, are putting their decision to a vote on their website, birthornot.com. (View a video of their ultrasound, below.) Alisha is nearly 17 weeks along, and the polls will be open until December 7th — just before the 20th week of her pregnancy ends, and, with it, "her last chance to get an abortion [in Minnesota]." Married for ten years, the Arnolds insist this isn't a prank or pro-life campaign, but rather an exercise in democracy. Pete calls the vote a chance for both pro-lifers and pro-choicers to be "heard" and to make a "difference in the real world." Commentators, however, aren't so sure.
The reaction: This is either an "idiotic prank" or a "pro-life stunt," say Adrian Chen at Gawker, pointing out that Alisha's Facebook "likes" include Glenn Beck and that Pete once made a pro-Bush comment on CNN. In either case, Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon says, "the choice of whether or not to abort should be left up to a woman and her doctor, not to the entire internet... these people should never, ever raise a kid." There's one thing the pro-choice and pro-life camps can agree on, says Jon Bershad at Mediaite: "This is really creepy and gross." Watch the video:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'Good riddance to the televised presidential debate'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Caitlin Clark the No. 1 pick in bullish WNBA DraftSpeed Read As expected, she went to the Indiana Fever
-
Today's political cartoons - April 16, 2024Cartoons Tuesday's cartoons - sleepyhead, little people, and more
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion banSpeed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling BiblesSpeed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitnessIn Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
