The most shocking story this week, surely, is that of Peter and Alisha Arnold. The couple have set up a website for the public to vote on whether they should abort their unborn child.
The site includes ultrasound images of the healthy foetus, named Wiggles, and regular postings from the husband and wife acknowledging the abundance of negative comments and thanking visitors for trickling words of support (some visitors have even offered to adopt the baby if the couple keep it.)
Comments vary in their passion, articulation and length, but all are emotionally laden. ‘First and foremost….I’m pro-choice. IF the situation dictates! Yours, my dear, does NOT,’ reads one. ‘So let me get this straight… you don’t want to get fat, so you may KILL YOUR OWN CHILD… On the other hand, you might keep it BECAUSE YOU LOVE BABY SHOWERS,’ reads another.
So why do it? The couple say they are still healing emotionally from three miscarriages. On top of this, Alisha writes on the website: ‘I wasn’t sure what to do. I fear that the constant pressure to be the perfect wife and mother while maintaining a full-time job will eventually cause my brain to implode and lead to a nervous breakdown…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.’
Selfish, in my mind, doesn’t begin to cover it. Because even if they choose to be ‘selfless’ and keep the baby, at some point that child will find out how close it came to not entering the world.
The couple maintain that the website is simply an extension of societies’ obsession with voting. ‘We vote on everything from the best singer on American Idol to who the next leader of the free world will be. Wouldn’t it be nice to voice your opinion and have it actually make a difference in the real world?’
No, not really. We might like to vote for talent shows but do any of us truly want the responsibility of deciding the fate of someone else’s life, someone else’s child? Should any individual have the right to make that kind of decision for another person?
This is of course the heart of the pro-life / pro-choice debate, but this is possibly the crudest expression of it to date. The vote currently stands at 79% to keep Wiggles, 21% to abort. The voting closes on December 7th, two days before the 20-week cut off for a state-legal abortion.
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