Posted on 02/11/2025 10:24:24 AM PST by Morgana
Pro-life professor worries exhibit is ‘misleading,’ says ‘no herbal abortifacient has been approved for use by the FDA’
An exhibit at Barnard College about the “changing conditions of reproductive rights in the United States” includes dried herbs and an outdoor garden with plants historically used to induce abortions.
The “Trigger Planting 2.0” exhibit debuted in October. On-going events connected to the display include an information session Tuesday on “self-managed abortion” and the “abortion pill.”
Together, the projects seem to imply that women may use the plants to abort their unborn babies if they want to.
At the event Tuesday, participants will “discuss the history of self-managed abortion, what it is, how medication abortions work, and why this is critical knowledge,” the event page states. “As access to abortion is becoming increasingly restricted and criminalized, we will explore self-managed abortion is as an essential mode of community care.”
The event is co-sponsored by the exhibit itself, the college library, and the Barnard Center for Research on Women.
None of the individuals or groups connected to the abortion display responded to multiple requests for comment from The College Fix over the past month. The Fix asked if the abortion garden will be permanent, if the plants on display are for educational purposes only, and if there are any warning labels to discourage home experimentation.
In a follow up email Monday, The Fix also asked for more details about the “self-managed abortion” event and the organizers’ response to concerns that some might raise about women’s safety.
Michael New, a professor at Catholic University of America, expressed safety concerns about the abortion garden.
“It appears that the exhibition is spreading misleading information about abortion,” New told The Fix in a recent email. “No herbal abortifacient has been approved for use by the FDA. Many herbal abortifacients are toxic and pose serious health risks. I doubt that this is mentioned in the display.”
New also questioned the ambiguity surrounding the garden itself. He regularly researches and writes about abortion, including the harms of abortion drugs.
“It is possible that this display might cause women to use herbal abortifacients at home, resulting in negative health consequences. It is also possible that students are permitted to eat the herbs from the garden itself. There hasn’t been much reporting on that,” New told The Fix.
New said that while the private institution “is certainly allowed to display support of legal abortion,” there needs to be greater efforts to support opposing views.
“I sincerely doubt that Barnard is making a similar investment in any kind of program that promotes pro-life perspectives,” New told The Fix. “When universities come down aggressively on one side of a controversial issue, that can have a chilling effect. It certainly does not foster debate and dialogue.”
At Barnard, architecture Professor Kadambari Baxi is one of the leaders behind the exhibition at the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning.
“The plants displayed in Trigger Planting were historically used for abortion and reproductive health by herbal practitioners as self-managed options that empowered women and families,” Baxi stated in a university news article.
The plants and signs describing how they were used are on display both inside as dried herbs and outdoors in a garden.
“Visitors to the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning will find the plants lined neatly behind a large map of the United States hanging in the lobby, as well as in outdoor planting beds, as part of an exhibition that surveys shifting political, legal, social, and environmental landscapes and advocates for expansive reproductive justice in a post-Roe world,” the article states.
The map marks states where abortions are legal, restricted, or banned. In New York, where Barnard is located, abortions are legal with few restrictions.
The name of the display refers to “trigger laws,” which is pro-life state legislation that went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Miriam Neptune, the director of exhibitions at the library, is the curator of Trigger Planting 2.0, according to the university.
“This exhibition seeks to inspire a conversation about the impact of abortion access legislation on real people,” Neptune stated in the article.
The display is “fully funded” by the college. It is an updated version of a 2022 project Baxi was involved with, “TRIGGER PLANTING” by the group “how to perform an abortion” and A.I.R. gallery in partnership with National Women’s Liberation, according to a description on the Barnard Library website.
Others involved with the exhibit include lead groundskeeper and horticulturist Keith Gabora, as well as other staff, students, and faculty.
In the university news article, Gabora suggested the abortion garden will be “permanent” and “praised the beautifying elements that the exhibition brings to campus.”
“The permanent location for the garden will continue to bring this cause to light long after the project is complete — I look forward to maintaining it and using it as a teachable entity in the future,” Gabora said.
Baxi and other project organizers plan to keep adding “new materials” to the exhibit “continually,” according to the article.
The professor has a “vision … to grow the project into a ‘pedagogical garden’ as the Center for Engaged Pedagogy (CEP) curates fall and spring 2025 curricular initiatives related to the exhibition,” the article states.
While the college promoted the exhibit on its website and social media pages, none of those contacted by The Fix responded to its questions about the display.
The Fix reached out to Baxi, Gabora through the facilities office, the media relations office, and the student group Reproductive Justice Collective at Barnard at least three times in the past month. None responded to questions about the permanence of the exhibit and the information displayed on the abortifacient plants. The Fix received an automated reply from Neptune, stating she will be out of the office until Feb. 11.
If you have ever read “The Book of Jasher” it talks about such herbs in Chapter 2
19 For in those days the sons of men began to trespass against God, and to transgress the commandments which he had commanded to Adam, to be fruitful and multiply in the earth.
20 And some of the sons of men caused their wives to drink a draught that would render them barren, in order that they might retain their figures and whereby their beautiful appearance might not fade.
21 And when the sons of men caused some of their wives to drink, Zillah drank with them.
22 And the child-bearing women appeared abominable in the sight of their husbands as widows, whilst their husbands lived, for to the barren ones only they were attached.
23 And in the end of days and years, when Zillah became old, the Lord opened her womb.
24 And she conceived and bare a son and she called his name Tubal Cain, saying, After I had withered away have I obtained him from the Almighty God.
25 And she conceived again and bare a daughter, and she called her name Naamah, for she said, After I had withered away have I obtained pleasure and delight.
BTW “The Book of Jasher” is brought up in the Bible, but was never put in it. I’d have to look of that if you need me too but for now take my word for it.
I’ve heard of this being used as well.
Kinda nausea-inducing to walk through a patch of it.
My Grandmother was in the class of 1901-Barnard.
She would not be happy with the present goings on at Barnard.
Murderers
Phooey to Barnard’s “reproductive rights”!
These miscreants no doubt want us to take in more Third World immigrants to make up for Americans who are never born!
Phooey to that, too!!
Well said.
Here is some of what Co-Pilot AI has to say about it:
“The Book of Jasher, also known as the Book of the Upright or the Book of the Just, is a non-canonical book referenced in the Old Testament. Its Hebrew name, “Sefer haYashar,” literally translates to “Book of the Upright.” The book is mentioned in the Bible in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18, but the exact content and origin of the original Book of Jasher are largely unknown.”
So, just because something isn’t the inspired Word of God, doesn’t mean it isn’t truthful or have historical/moral value. There is no way to know if any extant copies of “The Book of Jasher” are authentic copies, of course. I always found the purported Book of Enoch to be fascinating, myself.
Most of what comes out of the Columbia complex these days seems to be problematic.
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/people/tubal-cain-bible.html
“We don’t get a ton of context about Tubal-Cain except in Genesis 4:19-22.
Something interesting happens with Lamech. He ends up being the first person in the Bible to marry more than one wife. Polyamory has a history in Scripture—notably, families divide, and disasters ensue each time it gets mentioned.
With his first wife, Adah, he has two sons. Jabal creates several innovations. Not only is he the first man to have his people live in tents—we can assume people didn’t live in shelters or caves prior—but he is also the first to raise livestock. He’s the first shepherd.
His brother Jubal is musically inclined, the first man to play stringed and wind-powered instruments (flutes, etc.).
As for their step-brother Tubal-Cain, he forges tools out of bronze and iron. We can assume no one else did metal work before Tubal-Cain.”
This verse is part of the lesson from Genesis read in the Orthodox Church at the PreSanctified Divine Liturgy on the second Wednesday of Great Lent.
*
I’m reminded of the many times pro-lifers have “planted” tiny crosses on campuses for a day as a demonstration of the millions of lives lost to abortions, inevitably followed by screaming vandalism by the pro-aborts.
......we can assume people didn’t live in shelters or caves prior......
Perhaps they lived in caves.
There are several mentions in the Old Testament of people who took shelter in caves, and of course there have been monastics who lived in “caves” (in many cases artificially constructed ones). (See the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.)
You don’t have to be a “caveman” to live in a cave (lol)!
This sounds as loving as “Gender Affirming Care.”
Now it will be called something like “Life Affirming Care”
“The Book of Jasher, also known as the Book of the Upright or the Book of the Just, is a non-canonical book referenced in the Old Testament. Its Hebrew name, “Sefer haYashar,” literally translates to “Book of the Upright.” The book is mentioned in the Bible in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18, but the exact content and origin of the original Book of Jasher are largely unknown.”
So, just because something isn’t the inspired Word of God, doesn’t mean it isn’t truthful or have historical/moral value. There is no way to know if any extant copies of “The Book of Jasher” are authentic copies, of course. I always found the purported Book of Enoch to be fascinating, myself.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I agree and I’ve read both which is why I was able to pull that quote for this story.
The Book of Enoch is a serious acid trip to read. I love it but it is out there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.