SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM – You may have heard that there is terrifying site out on the Internet called Birth or Not. A couple that is expecting a child is pondering whether to keep the baby or abort him. They want you to vote, claiming that your vote will influence their final decision. In 15 days (Dec 3) they will make their decision. Why Dec 3? Because that is the “last day [they] can legally get an abortion in [their] state.”
This is a very shocking site for many reasons. First, if they abort it will be a late term abortion. Secondly, there is a seemingly cold calculation in their decision to abort. They are spending time, getting to know the baby, looking at ultrasounds, consulting family and friends, etc. as though this were all a leisurely decision. Of course no way of deciding on a abortion is good or better than another but at least it is more understandable when the decision comes under duress, or pressure. But this whole process is chilling as they casually read pamphlets, look at ultrasounds and ponder as they sip tea. Here are some quotes from their website:
- 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….We would like to keep you informed on our pregnancy as if it was your own; posting our thoughts and feelings as we struggle to make this decision. We would like you to see what we see and feel what we feel. We invite you take this journey with us as we contemplate our own options and encourage you to utilize this site to vote and voice your opinion in a way that will have a real consequence… in a way that truly matters. Here, your vote will not go unheard.
- “Mom” says: I went in for my weekly check up and the baby’s heartbeat was at 160 bpm and “Wiggles” continues to develop as expected. The baby was turning around a lot and waving arms (and hands) at us….. the baby’s skeleton is hardening and accumulating fat around it. Baby “Wiggles” is also developing unique fingerprints this week.
- ….your comments are appreciated. Though there are indeed many hateful. For every ten comments that are negative or spiteful there is one that is positive enough to blow them out of the water. We have even had multiple people (accounting for approximately 6% of those who have sent us a message) who have offered to adopt if the vote result is Abort.
- When the vote closes, we will be reviewing the data, and making it all public. When the vote closes, you will know all that we do… as we discover it together. Until then, it looks like we might have something we see typically with voting: An unknown result until the end.
IMPORTANT: On last Friday the vote was that over 80% wanted them to keep the baby, 20% said abort. By today the vote had dramatically shifted. Over 70% now say abort. Further, over 1 million votes have been cast.
Now you know you’d better get over there and cast a pro-life vote.
Indeed this whole thing of course is chilling and sickening. It is so atrocious that I can’t actually think they are seriously considering abortion at this point. It leads me to think that they are illustrating an atrocity by acting atrociously. As its deadly clock ticks away to December 3 (Feast Day of St. Francis Xavier – St. Francis, Pray for us!) we are all led into the gruesome reality of what abortion is. A child many of us have come to know, may be scheduled to die December 3. Abortion in this case, and a late term abortion at that, is no abstraction here. A real couple, with a real baby are (at least purportedly) considering aborting him. This couple has either successfully made abortion something very real for millions, or is one of the coldest couples on the planet. And we just don’t know for sure. I am holding out hope, even the likelihood, that they are really pro-life and are trying to make abortion something less abstract and more real for many. Of course the pro-choicers would call that a stunt. But this couple insists quite credibly that they really ARE undecided. It’s all very unsettling, chilling and frightening.
Please visit this site and cast a pro-life vote. Further send a note to the couple. But keep it positive, promise prayers….and really do pray! I personally can’t tell what this couple will do, if this is real or just a “stunt.” I really do hope in the end that it is an attempt on their part to illustrate atrocity by acting atrociously, to draw us into to true horror of abortion. But just pray….pray! (And vote here: http://www.birthornot.com/)
UPDATE– According to LifeSite News (HERE– Hat tip to Diane at Te Deum Laudamus) the Husband today admitted that the site is a hoax and that they never really intended to abort. You can read the article by clicking “HERE” in the line above. I am still not sure of the couple’s actual intent from the article. I had hoped they were illustrating an atrocity by acting atrociously in the sense that they were trying to illustrate how shocking abortion really is by their act and that they were not really intending to kill the Child. This may be the case. But the article isn’t really that clear. No matter, the whole thing is duplicitous and should never have been done. It is not right to lie in this manner even if the intent is good. In a little twist of justice, the wife lost her job yesterday since the company said she was gravely endangering their reputation. Perhaps that is why the husband fessed up today?
Msgr Pope. I’m not as strong as you are. I can not stomach up enough courage to go to such an aweful website no matter what its objectives. The best that I can do is offer my prayers. In cases like these I often ask God what He’s up to. His goodness and mercy will manifest itself but I just can’t see it. Looking through the glass darkly.
Understood.
I voted, but was appalled that 70% are voting for abortion … who are these people? I do not want to leave a comment on such an awful website but I will pray. Lord have mercy.
Thanks. I really don’t know who they are.
Horrifying. I worry this may be a hoax, but not enough to keep me from voting “Birth” as often as possible.
I hope it is a hoax
Reminds me of snuff sites. Is murder either way. What they are committing is a terror tactic against all. Whose to say it has no viruses, or they don’t want publicity. Sounds evil. I certainly will NOT vote.
OK
I haven’t the stomach for such a website, either. I can’t believe it’s for real – surely it’s a hoax!
Let’s hope
I really want the website to be a hoax – or, thinking more positively about it, a creative attempt to highlight the callous disregard people in our society have for unborn life.
This is one of those moments when I can say honestly “just when I thought I’d seen it all…”
Yes, grim.
Various sites I’ve visited have more or less debunked this as a stunt — albeit, a chilling one.
For example:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1332329/Hoax-Couple-Birth-Not-abortion-voting-website-internet-fraudsters.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=77512
If this is indeed a pro-life attention-grabber, I can’t help but think they haven’t really helped the cause. It’s just too repellent — and, in fact, this exercise has just served to further devalue the meaning of life by turning it into an internet commodity.
Dcn. G.
Thanks Reverend Deacon. I hope you are right and that this Chiild is not acutally endangered in this way.
I steeled myself and went to that website to vote–I’m holding out hope that this couple are pro-life, and trying to draw attention to the horrific reality of abortion. If not, they should give the poor child up for adoption regardless. No one deserves to have parents like that.
Agreed
God help us if it is in fact real. Yet more smoke from satan.
Smoke and fire.
Not long after I sent out the email with the link to the couple’s site
I got this anguished message from a friend of mine and I felt I should send it on to you:
“… I won’t vote. If I saw the woman I would tell her to keep the baby.
She wants, if this is real, to put the sin of murder onto others in receive a yes vote to murder.
I prayed for many girls who work with me who were having babies and only one did away with the baby … ”
I could see her point although I knew I’d only voted because I thought it would be a help.
However, I was surprised I hadn’t even considered how the site encourages others to sin-
to remember again how morally serious cooperation (like encouraging someone to commit evil) is. I think
we have all “gotten used to” the fact that these acts which are horrible continue to be committed
in our own neighborhoods.
The ultrasounds on the couple’s site just made me want to reach out and grab the baby to keep him
safe. It is hard to imagine that it could be legal to destroy him. At home we’ve lately we’ve been watching a
documentary about Christian resistance to the Nazis. The issues seemed mostly long ago and far away to me.
During the last 40 Days for Life campaign I often drove past an abortion facility. I told myself that I don’t have time to stand in prayer vigil there with all that is going on with work, my family, etc. Maybe I was wrong.
Anyway it never occured to me that the couple’s site is encouraging others to cooperate in the sin of murder by choosing “ABORT”.
Yes, of course that’s why we should vote to keep. But I understand some of the folks here not wanting to go to the site.
Something doesn’t add up with this. The bio on the couple states that they have tried planned pregnancies 2 times and both times have miscarried. This doesn’t sound like a couple who wants to abort a baby or even consider it. Imagine the shock this child will experience when he/she finds out that his/her life was decided by an internet vote.
Right. A miserable thing to discover in one’s past to be sure.
Indeed, God help us if it is real!! I, too, can’t stomach going to this site, nor can I understand how God allows these things happen. I know there is free will. With these horrifying things happening it is easy to see all the panicked uproar that this the end days. At any rate, when we all go to answer for this before God, I just hope His anger and retribution are far, far outweighed by His mercy.
I think we’ll all have to count on a lot of grace and mercy.
// Now you know you’d better get over there and cast a pro-life vote. //
I completely disagree. Marc Aupiais has it exactly right.
it is a disgrace to go in morbid fascination to a website where people are voting on the life or death of a human being, hoax or not.
Just stay away and pray.
-Tim-
Well, it might be a little strong to call it a disgrace. There are other reasons to go to the site that “morbid fascination.”
I believe the decision to abort or not abort this child has already been made, and long ago. I get the feeling from the things I’ve read about it the last week or so that this is attention-seeking behavior and should be ignored, the way one ignores any ill-mannered, attention-seeking children.
It is possible you are right. But, fact is we don’t know for sure.
I never saw this, but I don’t believe it’s real. It’s just to agitate prolifers, and then they laugh.
Hmm… maybe. But I’m willing to be a fool for Christ on this one.
Essentially playing heads or tails with an innocent life… may God have mercy on their souls.
My wife and I would adopt in a heartmeat. We have 3 children living at home now, but there’s ALWAYS room for one more.
Praise God.
What if it comes down to just one or a few votes? Could you live with yourself knowing you chose not to participate and the vote went in favor of abortion? Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake.
Yes, many things to consider. Of course one might argue that the vote suddenly got close and then reversed to encourage us to go to the site and that the whole thing really is a hoax. I just don’t know.
Dear Monsignor,
I followed your advice and voted to give birth. I tried to vote again, but the system wouldn’t let me. I also forwarded to them a video entitled “The Silent Scream,” a video by Dr. Bernard Nathanson of an actual abortion, and told them to watch it before they do anything.
God, I feel like I’ve done something I shouldn’t have done, by just visiting that website.
You know what I’ve been thinking? This may not be just a hoax, but an experiment. Maybe “they” (the media, the masters of the Web we live in) just want to see how people will react. Things like this are put before the public from time to time, and maybe they’re taking notes. How soon can they return us to the days of pagan Rome, when the crowd would roar for a gladiator’s death?
Well, but is there anything wrong with the way you reacted?
JMJ † The planning to Murder another human being was a crime against humanity ( even according to man’s law) a Grave Sin against God and his Creation, but according to man’s law today, through Abortion, it’s ok. We seem to forget ( deny/ignore) God’s Law. How Prideful this couple is. Reminds me of the jews being asked to Vote for Jesus’ Life or Barabas’ life. We still do it today, don’t be a part of it Pray instead place it in Mary’s Immaculate Heart and her son Jesus’ Sacred Heart. as a few people here say “Don’t vote Pray”. History does Not repeat it’s self, Mankind does!
Yes indeed.
Fascinating analogy you make between the the Jesus/Barabbas incident. I had not thought of that.
Dear Monsignor,
Thank you for drawing attention this. As I made my post to push traffic here, the thought came to me that we should pray a 9 day Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It will take seconds per day.
Perhaps you can draw attention to this idea while there is still time. If this proves to be a hoax or a study of some kind, the BVM can use the graces from our prayers for those women and couples in most need of them. It seems odd that they are posting information about the ultrasounds. Most crisis pregnancy centers using ultrasounds can probably attest to the fact that once a woman sees an ultrasound, she almost never aborts. They see life.
Also, I don’t know if it is an error on your part, or if they have changed the date. The shows December 9th, with a note that they must decide two days prior to that deadline.
Here is my post: http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2010/11/urgent-9-day-novena-to-our-lady-of.html
Monsignor,
I no sooner got done with my post when I found an email in my inbox from Steve Ertelt of LifeNews.
The husband admits it was a hoax (Deo gratias). I’m on my way to read the story now. Here it is.
http://www.lifenews.com/2010/11/23/nat-6877/
I will continue with my 9 day novena. Our Lady of Guadalupe has no shortage of people to whom those graces can go.
Thanks for this crucial update – I will post it in the main body of the Article. Yes, indeed, let’s keep praying.
I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I literally went back to my inbox upon completing the post, and putting it up on facebook. I had to turn back around and update everything. I was very glad to do so.
I voted for giving birth. The only comment I could come up with that might possibly catch the attention of a demented generational product was, ” And in the end the love you make is equal to the love you take.”
What, no room for growth?
It’s rhetorical. That’s for them to answer. Like the story of the ten lepers.
Here is more info from a local news station with links galore at the bottom (before the comments). Many of them came in the last few days as people were uncovering the folks behind this.
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/11/alisha_arnold_l.php#comments
She lost her job on account of this. The software firm, once they realized she was apart of it, dumped her and asked fellow employees to de-friend her on facebook and any other social networking sites. Here’s a clip from the above…
“Her bosses let her go because she was deemed a threat to the company’s reputation, and it has asked that employees de-friend her on Facebook.”
[snip]
“Right. Because nothing builds brand trust, customer satisfaction and employee loyalty like knowing the person you’re dealing with thinks strangers ought to vote in an online poll as to whether you should have an abortion.”
I should have added a few more thoughts on my last comment.
1) It’s possible that the company the wife worked for, which fired her, also had proof that some of her activity was taking place on a work computer, during working hours. That could be the more formal reason for the firing is inappropriate use of company tools.
2) it’s possible the husband may now lose his job over this. Whomever he works for may be screening his computer – company time.
3) This article on the husband (follow through), reveals that he has much online time, some of it in defense of life. If anything, this appears to me, to be a misguided. There are a number of lessons for people to gleen from this.
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/11/zeeboid_license.php
4) As offensive as this was, this couple is in need of prayers. She may have serious problems finding work. If he loses his job on account of this, ditto for him. It seems to me that she is still pregnant and, if so, the fallout could put this baby at risk if both end up out of work, and unable to get hired.
I’m constantly reminded of the Roman Colosseum and the collapse of the Roman Empire or the disappearance of Aztec civilizations that practiced infanticide.
Regardless of what this couples intentions are, It seems to me the times in which we live must be far more evil than those cultures ever were.
Miserere, Miserere, Miserere
I would not suggest going to this web-site and voting. The couple admits that
they will get $$$$$$ from Google …depending upon the number of “hits” it could be considerable dollars. I do
not think this couple is acting in any way, shape or form morally. For me to go along with their behavior by
voting for birth ( as noble as that sounds) I feel I am endorsing/enabling their behavior …somehow justifying
their chicanery. I do not believe they will abort this baby…nor ever had any intention of doing this. I think they
just are appealing to our base instincts and making money while doing it…in other words we have all been
had!!!! To use their unborn child in such a crass promotion is sinful..even if they never intended to abort. What
will their son think when he grows old enough to learn about this scam. I cannot think even if as you
hoped that they were acting atrociously to illustrate an atrocity their actions are anything but just disgusting and
way beyond the pale….and if she really lost her job yesterday…just desserts! I will pray for this child…that God
will somehow give him the graces he will need to grow into a normal young man…with parents like this God
is going to be very busy the next several years. This baby is truly at risk …and the social services should really
have a serious interview with this couple….behaviour like this should be looked into as possible abuse of an
unborn child . Even though abortion is legal, their behavior amounts almost to selling of their child. Even the pro-aborts here seem horrified at this outrageous behavior…and that is really saying something. I do appreciate
your update at the end of the article…. though it confirmed my worst suspicions about the whole matter. What
kind of parenting will this poor baby receive? Since money seems to be the motivator here perhaps the
offer of adoption will be seriously considered and the baby will in the end get deserving and responsible parents
That is what I will pray happens for the sake of this child….and his parents receive some professional counseling to help them consider the serious consequences of their duplicitous and cruel behavior.
Can t they make their own decision ? we talking about life here… abortion is murder… don t they have a conscience ? life is not a game.
HORROR
More updates on their site this morning. The mother says that she did indeed consider abortion but that now she feels she wants to continue the pregnancy. She has lost her job and obviously is in need of many daily prayers and much encouragement. So many other women are too.
It is my prayer for this woman that she come to realize losing her job while inconvenient and distressful is
not on the same level of loss….as killing her baby and thus risking the loss of her eternal soul. She can
perhaps justify the loss of her job ( purportedly the result of this involvment on the Internet) but there is no
way she could stand before the Lord and justify killing her son. She could do a great deal of reparation for
what she has done by detailing for her viewers why she has decided to choose life over abortion. In other
words make amends for this awful venture she and her husband embarked upon for what seems to be
noteriety and money.