Abortion Art - Choose Life at Yale Responds

PLB ^ | 4/18/2008 | Ruben Obregon

[UFC Pride K1]

"Horrified" is how Choose Life at Yale's Margaret Blume describes the general reaction of her peers towards Aliza Shvarts' senior art project, one in which the art major supposedly impregnated and induced abortions on herself over the past year.

"Almost every student whom I encountered yesterday was horrified at the thought that Aliza Shvarts had repeatedly impregnated herself, only to induce miscarriages, and glory in her 'freedom' to do so. It was deeply reassuring to me that most of my friends and fellow classmates, regardless of their political views on abortion, shared my outrage for such an awful and unnatural experiment. There is still some common level of morality or decency that most people instinctively acknowledge."

Blume expressed dismay at the support Svarts has received from some students, the university's administration, and the Women's center. 'The Women's Center starkly expresses the absolute nature of this right: "Whether it is a question of reproductive rights or of artistic expression, Aliza Shvarts' body is an instrument over which she should be free to exercise full discretion." '

After the story exploded on the internet, Yale Officials denied that Svarts' story was true. Helaine Klasky, Vice President of public affairs at Yale, called the entire project 'creative fiction'. In a story that ran in Friday's Yale Daily News, Svarts maintained that she did impregnate and induce abortions on herself several times over the past year.

When asked if this project was a hoax, Blume stated "There are many ambiguities surrounding the true nature of Aliza Shvarts' project...According to Aliza, 'an intentional ambiguity pervades both the act and the objects I produced in relation to it.' Her whole point is that there is no objective meaning in any act, and specifically, in a woman's body. Yet how can whether or not a life was created and killed be a matter of ambiguity!"

Blume gave Choose Life at Yale's official response to the controversy

"We believe that Yale students, regardless of their views of abortion, were deeply disturbed by this trivialization of the agony of women who face crisis pregnancies and endure miscarriages. This episode offends every thinking person who grapples with the deeply polarizing moral issue of abortion. Most profoundly, it is a depraved but telling reflection of the disrespect for life that abortion has inevitably led to. Though this unfortunate matter may attract wide and unflattering attention to Yale, we hope, at the very least, it will also generate a thoughtful dialogue about the value of human life, and the fact that Aliza's project is only one logical and legal conclusion of the pro-choice position. Also, we are planning to hold a candlelight vigil on Wednesday, April 23rd, from 9-11 pm on Yale's cross campus."

Whether Svarts intended it or not, the controversy brought the abortion debate to the fore front at Yale and across the nation.

"The project has certainly made the abortion debate a salient issue on campus. We are planning to issue a joint statement with the Reproductive Rights Action League at Yale (RALY) expressing our disgust at such a trivialization of the issue, and of the painful experiences of all those who have had an abortion. We can only hope that the debate will force people to think intelligently about abortion, and question why they are so outraged if the fetus is not a human life."

"Since the project has aroused anger and disgust, we hope that it will cause people to reevaluate their views in light of the fact that Aliza's project was legal, and that such a grotesque disregard for life is only the logical conclusion of a woman's absolute right to do whatever she wants with her body."

Blume agreed that Yale should not allow the project to be exhibited, even if it was a hoax.

"Even if the project was some sort of hoax, we completely agree with the Students for Life of America. We are "appalled that Yale University would allow a student to use the tragedy of miscarriage and abortion as a practical joke and then call it 'art.' If a male art student would have released that he planned to exhibit condoms he used to rape multiple women in an effort to produce shock, the American people and pro-choice feminist groups across the country would have demanded that the student apologize for his grotesque behavior and be severely reprimanded or expelled from school. In fact, I doubt that Yale senior project professor would have even allowed the project to continue in the first place. Falsely announcing that one has taken several lives is unethical, and this girl has inflicted serious harm to the women of this country who have experienced the pain of miscarriage." If she actually did try to impregnate herself, which we think is very possible, then we will certainly protest such a flagrant glorification of what is essentially murder. "

The groups website is located http://www.yale.edu/clay

[Mrs.Z]

The real shock of this story is that there is actually an organized Pro-Life group at YALE.

[UFC Pride K1]

LOL!!!

[KosmicKitty]

The whole thing has turned out to be a hoax.

[UFC Pride K1]

This is a case of deuling stories - Yale says she didn’t, she says she did...

I suppose some biological tests could provide some answers...

[thulldud]

Considering what Yale was only 100 years ago, the irony is enough to burn through a whole closet full of Armani suits.

[Paul Heinzman]

The day will come when the weight of her guilt will crush her. I hope she asks for forgiveness before that day.

[bushinohio]

I really, really hope this is a hoax. Because if this were true, this country and higher education are in an even sadder state than I thought they were.

[GovernmentShrinker]

The top brass at Yale need to have a serious chat with their admissions staff, and figure out how a totally self-absorbed jerk like this got into the college in the first place. Then they need to have a serious chat with the chair of the art department, and figure out how art majors are arriving at their last semester in college STILL being totally self-absorbed jerks. And I doubt she’s the only student in the art program who thinks this whole stunt is a brilliant work of art.

[LionsDaughter]

I looked up the article from which the Shvarts quotes are taken. For anyone who cares to read it, it's here.

I first saw this story on another forum, which is mostly populated by liberals. And even they were astonished and generally upset. And when the news broke that she was probably only claiming pregnancy and miscarriage (in one of this stories only amusing turns, it was first called as a hoax on our forum three hours and thirty-one minutes after it was initially posted), someone made the comment, "She's trying to have it not just both, but all three ways: generating humongous interest and notoriety by claiming to have destroyed fetuses for an art project, telling the Yale officials it's not true to prevent any legal repercussions, and then straddling the mid-line by clinging to 'IT'S ART' with both hands."

And from the article she wrote, there's this little gem at the end.

"Just as it is a myth that women are meant to be feminine and men masculine, that penises and vaginas are meant for penetrative heterosexual sex (or that mouths, anuses, breasts, feet or leather, silicone, vinyl, rubber, or metal implements are not meant for sex at all), it is a myth that ovaries and a uterus are meant to birth a child.

When considering my own bodily form, I recognize its potential as extending beyond its ability to participate in a normative function. While my organs are capable of engaging with the narrative of reproduction--the time-based linkage of discrete events from conception to birth--the realm of capability extends beyond the bounds of that specific narrative chain. These organs can do other things, can have other purposes, and it is the prerogative of every individual to acknowledge and explore this wide realm of capability."

Inquiring minds would like Ms. Shvarts to elaborate on just what "other purposes" an ovary might have? Because my mind? It boggles.

[huldah1776]

DNA samples would show if she had, indeed, murdered another human being. Someday, a computer will reconstruct the human image from a DNA sample. Question, are the remains of innocent sacrificed humans on display for entertainment anywhere else in the world?

[seanrobins]

The Left at Yale should not try so hard to appear outraged at acts which are not that far removed from the ordinary course of the liberal sacrament of abortion.

[bioqubit]

Letter to the President of Yale...and if you want to let him know what you think: presidents.office@yale.edu

To The President of Yale:

The controversy over the Yale art student, Svarts, project involving a display based on multiple induced abortions is sick and a disgusting outrage. Blood in plastic. This is “art”?

Others have done a better job of articulating my outrage than I can. That the reductio ad absurdum of the “right to choose” has been achieved with her art exhibit should be abundantly clear to the pro-life crowd and a non-issue to pro-choice crowd.

Regardless, one thing has happened though where I believe you cannot remain neutral on this topic. Ask yourself this: Has an art exhibit that celebrates abortion enhanced or hurt the reputation of Yale? It’s clear to me that she has not just hurt your school’s reputation, she has damaged it. She has made it highly undesirable for many prospective students to consider your school. She has made it more likely, not less, that more parents and alumni will be disgusted enough to not only not donate to the Yale in the future but also suggest to others they avoid Yale and send their children to better schools.

The trivialization of abortion is more than just poor judgement. It is a state of mind that becomes hard to separate from psychopaths, sociopaths, and individuals who abuse their own bodies in a variety of ways.

I, for one, feel very strongly that you have a responsibility to do more than just issue some tepid statement that attempts to be “balanced” in this horrific matter. Ms. Svarts clearly has something wrong with her. I don’t pretend to know the diagnosis. But, as far as I am concerned, if you have any common sense, you will punish her, expel her, fine her, and make her illness an example of what Yale will never permit.

I would hope you see that what Ms. Svarts has purported to do is simply depraved. What adds to this though was news of a recent art exhibit somewhere in Central America where the “art” displayed in an art gallery, and approved by a panel of three judges, was a dog tied up for the public to view while it starved to death. What do you think? Is that art? It is a cruel act dressed in the guise of art. For some strange reason, Ms. Svarts’s treads similar territory seeking similar legitimacy, but it is every bit as cruel. What she also does not see is that every time she did this, she killed a little bit of her self, her soul. It is just another form of the same numbing that occurs when a murderer gets increasingly comfortable with each kill. Is this what you want to permit at Yale? Is this what you are going to legitimize as an academic pursuit?

All I can do besides write this email to you is pray that you think better of it, sir.

Sincerely,

[modhom]

Deconstructing construction itself is like questioning the meaning of “is”.
Gee thanks for nothing, Bill.

[Aria]

So this gibberish qualifies one for Yale. Any child at sunday school knows more than this pathetic pseudo intellectual.

[informavoracious]

Hoax or not, this narcissist is seriously mentally and emotionally deranged and needs psychatric help if not an exorcism. The same goes for her advisor and the ghouls at the women’s center.

[garylmoore]

logical conclusion of a woman’s absolute right to do whatever she wants with her body.”

But, but it’s not her body, it’s another life she’s murdering.