Abortion Art Project

[JeanineAnne]

WARNING
This article is beyond heart-wrenching and can open a lot of hurt feelings for people who have lost children

Yale Art Student Claims She Used Blood Samples, Video of Self-Induced Abortions for Senior Project
Thursday , April 17, 2008

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

A Yale student who claims she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" and then took drugs to induce miscarriages for her senior art project says she will showcase the stomach-turning display next week — complete with her own blood samples and videos from the terminated possible pregnancies.

The story of art major Aliza Shvarts' upcoming exhibit, which the Yale Daily News broke Thursday, has sparked widespread disgust and outrage.

"It’s clearly depraved. I think the poor woman has got some major mental problems," said National Right to Life Committee President Wanda Franz. "She’s a serial killer. This is just a horrible thought."

Critics on campus have said the display sounds like a shock-and-awe look at the highly sensitive issue of abortion and called it a sick stunt to get attention. The abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America also condemned the exhibit.

"This 'project' is offensive and insensitive to the women who have suffered the heartbreak of miscarriage," said NARAL's communication director Ted Miller in a statement.

But Shvarts said the goal of the project is to encourage debate and discussion about the connection between art and the human body.

"I hope it inspires some sort of discourse," Shvarts, whose age was withheld, told Yale's newspaper. "Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it's not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone."

The senior's campus phone has been disconnected, and she did not respond to e-mailed requests for an interview. Yale University also didn't return calls seeking comment.

Shvarts told the school paper that her sperm donors, whom she declined to identify, were not paid for their participation but added that she did require them to be screened for STDs.

The drugs she took to induce contractions and miscarriages were legal and herbal in nature, according to Shvarts — who didn't specify what they were. The art major insisted she wasn't concerned about the effects of her research on her own body.

But ob-gyn Dr. Manuel Alvarez, FOXNews.com's health managing editor, said the young woman should have been worried because what she was doing was extremely unsafe.

"It’s quite dangerous," Alvarez said. "She was playing Russian roulette with her life, if she indeed did this to these unborn children for the sake of art. I don’t even have the words to express the disbelief that I have."

Alvarez said herbal remedies to trigger uterine contractions have long been used in countries where abortions are illegal — including certain raspberry teas and strong cinnamon teas — but they are far from consistently effective, and they tend to be risky.

"They interfere with pregnancy and are either toxic to the fetus or cause contractions," he explained. "The reason they are effective is that they create side effects, but none of them are 100 percent prescriptive to be abortive."

Shvarts wouldn't say how many times she was artificially inseminated and actually got pregnant for the project — which she described to the Yale paper as a huge cube hanging from the ceiling and swathed in plastic sheeting smeared with her blood from the reported miscarriages. The existence and number of pregnancies Shvarts may have had weren't independently confirmed.

Videos taken of what the college student says were self-induced abortions in her bathtub will be projected both on the cube's sides and on the gallery walls.

The exhibit will be on public display from April 22 to May 1 at Yale's Holcombe T. Green Jr. Hall. Shvarts will be honored at a reception April 25.

Franz likened Shvarts' process of artificial insemination and induced miscarriages to the human experimentation that took place during the Holocaust. She said the Yale senior's work highlights a stark truth about American society's approach to abortion.

"She really has hit on a reality that what she has done is legal," Franz said. "Anything she chooses to do here can’t be stopped in terms of legality. And there are people fighting for her right to do this."

Alvarez believes such an endeavor in the name of art is offensive, harmful and insensitive, especially to women who face difficult choices about pregnancy or who aren't able to conceive.

"Anybody who trivializes a woman’s choice to terminate a pregnancy is really not contributing anything positive to these matters," he said. "I don’t see anything artistic about this. ... It’s completely unethical and immoral. What have we accomplished? Absolutely nothing."

[rachel]

Fetus is latin for little one. Technically, this girl isn't fully developed yet. (What is it.. our brain finally finishes developing in our mid-20's?) Does her beating heart count enough? Does she dehumanize herself too?

I wish I could take those little ones and be their mommy.

[Cheeseburger]

That is so BEYOND horrible... come quickly Lord Jesus.

To think such a cold-hearted killer is being GLORIFIED in an art gallery!!!!! Beyond SICK!

Is it even worth it to pray for the repentance of america anymore? How long will God withhold judgment on such an evil nation as this? I can't even hardly look at news anymore because it is story after story of awful tragedies being inflicted on innocent children!!!! What stays God's hand??? Come quickly Lord Jesus!

[rachel]

Yeah.. the world "honor" in that article made me want to heave. People are really proud about sin.

[kymommy]

oh my gosh! Unbelievable. So sad, sick... I just don't know what to say. God help her!

[Ren]

rachel your first comment made me tear up. I literally couldn't finish reading this out loud to my husband because I was holding back vomit. Honor her? I can't write anymore about this cause thinking about it is making me sick. This is really aweful. -ren

[gamommyto4girls]

I found this story so disturbing. While it does NOT make me feel a lot better apparently the whole thing is now being termed a hoax by Yale. Here's a link from them:

http://www.yale.edu/opa/

It's all so sad and just simply depraved :-(

[JeanineAnne]

the whole thing is now being termed a hoax by Yale
hmmm considering they still support the idea and all, I'm not sure I trust them. I'm guessing they thought they would only come under attack from right to life groups but when the pro-choice groups voiced concerns and everyone else they issue a statement that is contradicts their earlier statements...

Not to mention she videotaped each "miscarriage"...that is beyond any sick thing I've heard where real or non-real. The entire fact that Yale allowed (and yes, these things need preapproved...every senior project does) it in the first place is incredulous to begin with.

[Ren]

Thankyou soooo much gamom for posting that! I was feeling last night like, "this is too outrageous, it has to be fake". But, the fact that it's even been circulated make me cringe because now the idea is out there. What mentally unstable person might get ahold of this and say, "hey, why don't I do this?" I told my dh last night that there are so many ways to make the point that america is cavilier about abortion (not that it should be happening at all). You don't have to make an insane art project to communicate that. Even if this is just fiction it's still a discusting idea for "art". Little rant for a second- I hate woman's issues being used as "art" because somehow our bodies and their functions are so incredible. Our funtions as well as men's are amazing and a testiment to God's magesty and creativity but, honestly, I don't need to see some of it as an art project. -ren

Jeanineanne- ya' I agree, they seemed very supportive of such an aweful idea. I also forgot about the video tape, how'd she "do" that if it's fake? UGH!

[Timmys mom]

Yeah I thought it might be a hoax too, still that is just sick to even think about doing something like that. That would be so hard on her body too, anyway, I'm glad it was all a hoax, but they should still look into her mental health....

[Ashlee]

I also thought it could be a hoax.. or at least that she would say it was after the reaction she got from both sides. I dont think its what she expected. She definetely has some mental issues, hoax or not!

[justmeNmine]

My first thought was that it mustn't be real; thanks for the link gamommy, confirmed what i had already thought. I would imagine that the "videos" are pefrmances as the statement from yale states. I think in addition to being completely insensitive to the people mentioned in the article, it is also extremely insensitive to the women who have had abortions. One thing I have learned in my experience, more than anything, is that there is a LOT of heartbreak, pain and regret on behalf on MANY of the women who have terminated their pregnancy, especially in situation where they were coerced by spouses, boyfriends and even parnets...

On the other hand, I don't completely disagree with the girl's senior project, as long as the acts "performed" weren't actually committed.

[Cheeseburger]

Since when does performance art include lying to the press?

[gamommyto4girls]

I agree everyone, I think it's an outrageous and unacceptable project either way, I was just relieved for all of those little souls. I still think Yale has a lot to answer for by allowing either way and I would recommend some mental help for that student.

[JeanineAnne]

They all need help...Yale is just trying to cover their own horrible decisions. This girl is clearly distrubed.


Yale Student Insists Abortion Art Project Is Real, Despite University's Claims of 'Creative Fiction'
Friday , April 18, 2008

By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

A Yale University student who touched off a campus firestorm with her shocking claims of repeatedly artificially inseminating herself and then inducing miscarriages as part of an art project stood by her story Friday, despite statements from the university that her version of events is "creative fiction."

In a guest column that ran in Friday's Yale Daily News — which first reported her claims in Thursday's edition — senior art major Aliza Shvarts maintained that she had conducted artificial inseminations and carried out what she characterized as self-induced miscarriage procedures, though she never actually knew whether she was pregnant.
"For the past year, I performed repeated self-induced miscarriages," Shvarts wrote in Friday's column. "Using a needleless syringe, I would inject the sperm near my cervix within 30 minutes of its collection, so as to insure the possibility of fertilization.

"On the 28th day of my cycle, I would ingest an abortifacient, after which I would experience cramps and heavy bleeding. ... Because the miscarriages coincide with the expected date of menstruation (the 28th day of my cycle), it remains ambiguous whether the there (sic) was ever a fertilized ovum or not.

"The reality of the pregnancy, both for myself and for the audience, is a matter of reading."

She reiterated that the display, which she herself drew attention to with a press release circulated Wednesday, was meant to provoke discussion about the link between art and the human body.

"This piece — in its textual and sculptural forms — is meant to call into question the relationship between form and function as they converge on the body," she wrote.

Click here to read Aliza Shvarts' column in Friday's Yale Daily News.

Yale officials disputed Shvarts' story, and in a strongly-worded statement Thursday night said the student told several high-level university officials that she did not do the things she said she did in constructing the exhibit.

Shvarts told Yale College Dean Peter Salovey and two other senior officials investigating her claims that she neither impregnated herself nor experienced any self-induced miscarriages, the campus newspaper reported.

"The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body," Helaine S. Klasky, associate dean and vice president for public affairs at Yale, said in the statement sent to FOXNews.com.

"Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art."

Shvarts' campus phone has been disconnected, and she did not respond to e-mailed requests for an interview. While she did not explicitly mention Yale officials' version of events in her Friday column, Klasky told various media that Shvarts had indicated what she would do if the university contended her story was false.

"She said if Yale puts out a statement saying she did not do this, she would say Yale was doing that to protect its reputation," Klasky told The Associated Press.

The public affairs official also wrote an e-mail to the Yale Daily News late Thursday night saying that Shvarts "denial is part of her performance. We are disappointed that she would deliberately lie to the press in the name of art.”

Shvarts shot back at the school, claiming her project was “university sanctioned,” according to the paper.

“I’m not going to absolve them by saying it was some sort of hoax when it wasn’t,” she told the Daily News. “I started out with the university on board with what I was doing, and because of the media frenzy they’ve been trying to dissociate with me. Ultimately I want to get back to a point where they renew their support.”

Shvarts said her project had the backing of Yale's Davenport College Dean Craig Harwood, as well as at least two faculty members within the School of Art.

The Yale Daily News' top editor said Friday that the paper stands by all its coverage of the controversy.

"The Yale Daily News stands by its original as well as its subsequent reporting," wrote editor in chief Andrew Mangino in an e-mail to FOXNews.com.

He said there had always been uncertainty as to whether or not Shvarts had managed to get herself pregnant and induce actual miscarriages.

"From the beginning, there was ambiguity as to whether or not Aliza Shvarts had successfully impregnated herself — the original story points out that she did not take a pregnancy test and refused to provide some key details of her self-insemination," he said. "But the fact remains that she might have been pregnant on multiple occasions."

The art major told the paper that Yale misrepresented her explanation of her work to school officials, according to Mangino.

"Although an official Yale statement suggested, though did not outright state, that her project essentially amounted to a hoax, Ms. Shvarts told the News on Thursday that this very statement was misleading and an inaccurate representation of what she had told school officials earlier in the day," Mangino said.

"This story, on one level, therefore amounts to a he-said-she-said with ambiguous language being employed by all parties."

But the editor said the paper's coverage by a team of four reporters and five editors "indicates that Aliza's project is not a hoax."

Yale officials didn't respond to requests for a reaction to Shvarts' column, but did confirm their comments in Friday's Daily News article were accurate.

Before the university contended that Shvarts did not actually perform the acts, the story about the project sparked widespread disgust and outrage, with critics characterizing the young woman as sick, depraved, unethical and attention-seeking. Advocates on both sides of the abortion-rights debate condemned the exhibit.

In standing by her work, Shvarts on Friday provided further details, saying she is the only one who knows how many sperm donors — whom she calls "fabricators" — she used and which herbal drugs she took to induce the possible "miscarriages."

"To protect myself and others, only I know the number of fabricators who participated, the frequency and accuracy with which I inseminated and the specific abortifacient I used," the college senior wrote in her Daily News column. "Because of these measures of privacy, the piece exists only in its telling."

Yale issued its statement several hours after the campus paper first published the story on Thursday, suggesting that university officials had taken the young woman's claims seriously enough to launch a full-scale investigation and question her directly.

"Her art project includes visual representations," said Klasky. "[Schvarts] stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. ... Had these acts been real they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns."

Whether it's real or fake, the exhibit — which Shvarts has described as a large cube suspended from the ceiling and wrapped in layers of plastic that are smeared with blood samples from the purported miscarriages mixed with Vaseline — is slated to be unveiled next week.

Videos she claims show her experiencing induced miscarriages in her bathtub will be projected on the sides of the cube and the gallery walls.

"The most poignant aspect of this representation — the part most meaningful in terms of its political agenda (and, incidentally, the aspect that has not been discussed thus far) — is the impossibility of accurately identifying the resulting blood," Shvarts wrote.

The exhibit will be on public display from April 22 to May 1 at Yale's Holcombe T. Green Jr. Hall. Shvarts is scheduled to be honored at a reception April 25.

The young woman gave Daily News reporters a tour of her studio and a sneak peak at the footage included in the upcoming exhibit that has stirred such controversy. The campus paper published a photo of Shvarts at work.

"Two News reporters demanded and received physical evidence as well as graphic (and, at times, bloody) photographs in order to confirm that the project indeed has a physical manifestation beyond the shock value of its public explanation," Mangino told FOXNews.com. "It does."

Before coming to Yale, Shvarts was a student at The Buckley School, a Los Angeles prep school for children in kindergarten through the 12th grade. She graduated as valedictorian, according to Buckley's Web site — which by Friday had removed archived references to Shvarts.

Buckley officials did not return calls seeking comment.

During her time at Yale, Shvarts penned an essay about getting her period for the first time in 1999, which was posted on a site called My Little Red Book with girls' writings about the experience.

She also apparently constructed an art installation addressing the same subject as part of a series she called "Disarticulation." Both her written and art pieces about menstruation are titled "The Ming Period."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.