Anti-Choice Hoax

(Cross-posted on my blog)

Last year, a blogger who desperately wanted to be a mother captivated the web as she wrote about the progression of her pregnancy. Tragically, like so many women, her pregnancy was not viable. What do you do when you desperately wish to have a child, but know that it will not survive? It’s a heartbreaking situation for anyone to be in. Rebecca Beushausen decided to carry through her pregnancy to the end, chronicling the whole experience on her blog.

Soon, her blog was receiving 100,000 hits per week, many of which from Christian websites, offering her prayers and words of encouragement. Other women in similar tragic situations joined in solidarity with the young Chicago blogger. Before long, support became more material as she began to accept cash donations. Her blog even featured paid advertisement. Of course, anyone facing such a difficult pregnancy would appreciate a little help paying for medical bills, and what kind of unsympathetic bastard wouldn’t help?

But soon things… well, things just didn’t add up. Details of the pregnancy, especially the expected due date kept changing. And why would a mother expecting a terminally ill baby choose to give birth at home rather than at a hospital? That doesn’t make sense. And is that… is that a Reborn Doll?

SONOFA$%$#%^%^&#!!!!!!!!!

That’s right, this heat-breaking story that so many people followed for so long, that people offered donations for, that convinced many women facing non-viable pregnancies to keep them only to watch their children suffer and die, that antis used to further convince women to do just that was FAKE! IT WAS A HOAX! SHE MADE IT ALL UP, AND EVEN CONFESSED! SHE LIED ABOUT A FAKE PREGNANCY AND A FAKE DEAD BABY AND ALL THE PAIN SHE CLAIMED TO HAVE GONE THROUGH WITH REAL WOMEN SUFFER FOR EVERY DAY! SHE LIED!

And the worst part? She’s not the only fraudster. That’s right, the antis are at it again. This time, they’re letting you vote. Yes, I’m giving this one away in advance, it’s a big fat hoax.

The site is birthornot.com wherein the internet gets to vote on whether or not a married couple, Pete and Alisha Arnold should get an abortion.

Voting is such an integral part of the American identity. We vote on everything. We vote on things ranging 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? Why not vote on whether to continue or abort an actual pregnancy? Your vote can help a real couple to make a decision on this issue.

Many things are up to vote, but another person’s organs should NEVER be one of them.

In a series of posts spanning several months, couple discuss their latest pregnancy and their opptions in just the kind of flippant way antis expect women do.

I feel that as I age I’ve actually gotten more selfish and set in my ways.

Later, she began to experience spot bleeding and detected hemorrhaging, which, strangely, she didn’t seem all that bothered by. Conveniently, it’s all been clearing up on its own as the pregnancy(which is apparently real this time at least) reaches 18 weeks. (Did I mention this is going on NOW?)

The site is littered with blatant anti-choice verbiage and tactics, repeatedly referring to the fetus as a “baby” and an “unborn child” and even naming it “Wiggles.” Every other post is an updated ultrasound, sometimes pictures, sometimes video, and a detailed description of the latest fetal development descriptions.

Dec. 9th is the last day we could legally get an abortion in our state. This vote will remain open until 2 days prior to allow for the procedure if decided.

Clearly, they don’t understand how later abortions work. They can’t just walk into a clinic and get one at any time. Especially as it’s usually a two-day procedure with a doctor with a busy schedule who likely doesn’t profile such services every day if any doctor in their area even provides them at all. (Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s available.) Not only that, but the state of Minnesota (where they live) has a mandatory 24 hour waiting period from the time of counseling to the time the procedure starts. That’s 3 days. 3. Even if they’re able to make an appointment on the same day the final results are tallied, they don’t have enough time.

Still not convinced this is a fraud? How about the fact that the husband is an anti-choicer? Observe, Pete’s Blogger.com profile. You’ll notice it’s not the same ID he uses on birthornot, but the personal details are the same as are the names Pete and Alesha used in the blogs with pictures to confirm they’re the same people. In case anyone thinks it’s a copy-cat, it’s been up since 2006.

Notice the E-mail address “Zeeboid.” Now that’s quite an unusual name, isn’t it? Surely there can’t bee very many people with such a name.

Yeah, hold on to that thought.

Now notice just how many blogs Pete has. Look, there are two named a variant of Pete and Alisha. How cute. What’s this? “Always Right, Usually Correct.” Now, that sure is an interesting blog name. I wonder what we can find there? Wouldn’t you know it, it’s a hard-right blog with many oh a many condemnations of abortion (mostly by the user, Tony, although The Pete is no stranger to making a few himself.

It turns out Pete is quite fond of the name “Zeeboid” as he used the name for his vanity plate. It appears he quite fond of the name.

In 2006, Pete wrote on dKosopedia, the DailyKos wiki a lovely article on what being pro-choice means under a familiar pseudonym.

I have no idea what their angle is. Maybe they’re trying to make some kind of insane point doomed to failure, or maybe they’re just out for a little fame. They’ve already gotten the attention of a few media outlets and have participated in a few interviews, as they report in their blog. Who knows?

A pregnancy should never, I repeat NEVER be up to public opinion. The point of RvW was that the woman, the affected party, gets to decide for herself what to do with her own pregnancy. No one gets to make the decision for her. I am absolutely disgusted by the way this little stunt belittles the oftentimes difficult decisions women around the world face every single day.

I’m even more repulsed by the way the poll is set up. It’s bad enough to have a poll at all but this one only has two options, give birth, or abort. There is no “do what you think is best” option. The assumption is that anti-choice people will vote birth and pro-choice people will vote abort. As Pete was kind enough to illustrate for us, he is under the mistaken impression that pro-choice people are pro-abortion, rather than, you know, pro-CHOICE! I don’t care what women choose. If she chooses abortion, great! If she chooses birth, great! I only care that woman have a choice and nothing is forced upon them by anyone. Not their partners, not their parents, not the state, and not 4-Chan.

That’s right. 4-Chan, specifically /b/ is getting in on the action, driving traffic to the site, attempting hacks and database overloads, commenting overdrive, and swinging the votes heavily in favor of abortion. That’s some dandy counter-trolling /b/tards. I won’t pretend that /b/ does this to protest the fraud or the veiled attack on women’s rights (lol, yeah right, maybe Chanology.) I know they just do it for the lulz.

Speaking of lulz, the Arnald had the nerve to complain about voter fraud at the poll results showed a drastic lean in favor of abortion. The current results, at the time of writing, are

Have an Abortion 70.19% (684,259 votes)

Incidentally, I voted in favor of abortion since a. these people are insane and really have no business around children, and b. because I know it’s a hoax anyway.