Thursday, April 17, 2008

Abortion as an art form

From the Yale Daily News : "Art major Aliza Shvarts ’08 wants to make a statement.

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process. "

Ok, I know
my pro life opinions are a minority view within the UUA, but I kind of hope that even those of my fellow UUs who consider me a Neanderthal are just a little squicked out by this.

update

Yale University issued a statement saying it investigated and found it all to be a hoax that was Shvarts' idea of elaborate "performance art." She stands by her claims, but it sounds thin Yale Daily News

I still want to spit on her, but for different reasons.

9 comments:

Lilylou said...

I think the statement she is making is not pro-choice but is a death wish for herself. What a dangerous, horrible thing to do---to herself, to the fetuses she aborts, and to anyone who cares about her, as well as those who care about art. This is not a sane woman, imho. And her product is not art. And I am pro-choice but I hate abortion.

Toonhead said...

Why do artists feel compelled to make statements? How about making art? Now that would be a powerful statement.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Ms Kitty - Schvarts sounds a little disturbed to me. She didn't consult a doctor. The article didn't specify the ages at which she created abortions (days? weeks? unlikely it was months), and if we are talking about days or a few weeks, I'm not inclined to think of terminating zygotes as terminating "life."

I'm pro-life, but I don't believe an embryo or a zygote are a "baby." I definitely don't agree that "life" begins at conception. And even if it did, that doesn't preclude terminating it. Otherwise, we wouldn't eat vegetables or anything else that's "alive." Over 90% of abortions take place before the 1st trimester, and I'd like to see that figure increased to more like 98-99%.

But I do find it interesting that pro-life folks are often anti-birth control and anti safer sex education, which are the two best, proven ways to reduce the number of abortions altogether.

Chalicechick said...

Can't speak for fellow UUs, but the commenters at Jezebel.com seem major, major squicked out by this and they are a pretty pro-choice crowd.

The Yale student the article I read quoted as saying ""Congratulations, Aliza Shvarts '08: you have single-handedly trivialized not only an entire generation and a half's fight to gain and retain the right to choose, through harassment and against massive odds, but also history of women's struggles, not only politically, but with the emotional, moral, and spiritual impacts of the choice to terminate a pregnancy. You also spit upon every couple who has tried, and failed, sometimes repeatedly, to have children. it is the emotional impact of these struggles, emotional impact that you shamelessly exploit, not explore, in your senior project" nicely captured the pro-choice view of that.


CC
who just wants to say right now that if this is a hoax and this girl is just doing this as a comment on the media and/or the morality of the American public, I saw it coming.

Anonymous said...

CC - re your post-comment comment: WORD. I read two articles about this, but no one raised the possibility that she could just be ... lying. Hmm. No word on who the sperm "donors" are, and no doctor supervised this ... hmmm.

ogre said...

I'm with CC. This is either a (disgusting) hoax or a (repulsive) act of questionable sanity.

ogre said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

this is too strange for commentary.

Lilylou said...

I guess I'm not surprised that it's a hoax. It was so strange as to be unbelievable, though there have been equally strange things happen out there and they were true!