Yale student impregnates herself to create miscarriages — for art; Update: Hoax?
posted at 10:57 am on April 17, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Via Gateway Pundit, it can’t be real. It’s too broadly parodic of too many things: the trivialization of abortion, modern art’s fascination with effluvium, amoral academic culture justified as a form of faux-profound “consciousness-raising,” etc etc etc. All that’s missing is some sort of representation of Christ as a gay Nazi.
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…
The “fabricators,” or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages…
The display of Schvarts’ project will feature a large cube suspended from the ceiling of a room in the gallery of Green Hall. Schvarts will wrap hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting around this cube; lined between layers of the sheeting will be the blood from Schvarts’ self-induced miscarriages mixed with Vaseline in order to prevent the blood from drying and to extend the blood throughout the plastic sheeting.
Schvarts will then project recorded videos onto the four sides of the cube. These videos, captured on a VHS camcorder, will show her experiencing miscarriages in her bathrooom tub, she said. Similar videos will be projected onto the walls of the room.
Lots more at the link, with even the campus pro-choice group unwilling to offer a pat on the back. Exit question re: Schvarts: Republican, do you think?
Update: Some of our commenters with more medical knowledge than I are saying this is probably a hoax, with the likely, er, “medium” here being standard menstrual blood.
Update: Yale says it’s “performance art.”
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Comment pages: « 1 2 [3]
If you have a period while pregnant, it’s called a miscarriage.
Second, there are herbs that do induce a miscarriage. They are even mentioned in the original Hippocratic oath. If a woman stresses her body enough (through drugs, work, exercise, etc.) the body will induce a miscarriage.
Newsbusters is calling this a hoax because the idea of artificial insemination sounds unbelievable? Ever heard of a mule?
Whether this is legit or not is one thing, but the basic biology of the situation is completely believable. It’s the motivation and the act that is unbelievably horrendous.
darclon on April 17, 2008 at 6:45 PM
God have mercy. How long before He just says “Enough!”
I would not be surprised if this same person wonders how the God of the Bible can allow war and suffering,, while she purposefully impregnates herself, takes her own baby, kills it and uses it’s body for a display. Like a piece of scrap paper.
JellyToast on April 17, 2008 at 6:55 PM
While I’m glad you mentioned something about herbs that do induce miscarriage, I have to disagree about your first point. I had a regular cycle while pregnant the first time, up until my 7th month. My mother had hers with me for 5 months, and with all five of hers my maternal grandmother had a regular period all 9 months.
According to dictionary.com, a miscarraige is
Interesting that it is usually not considered a miscarriage until the third month.
the goddess anna on April 17, 2008 at 7:10 PM
What proof do we have other than her say-so that she actually became pregnant?
Sekhmet on April 17, 2008 at 7:25 PM
Well, as with most generalizations, this one fell short. There is sometimes irregular bleeding, typically called spotting, that does not translate to a miscarriage.
Exceptions to the rule, such as your family, do exist. In general, a period during pregnancy, within the first trimester especially, does coincide with the expulsion of the fetus. A period is just the sloughing off of the uterine wall, the wall that the zygote/fetus/placenta is attached.
My point was just that we don’t know whether she did it or not, and there is nothing that I have read to contradict what she claims to have done.
BTW, I’m a guy, I’ve just got two kids and I’ve picked up a little info along the way.
darclon on April 17, 2008 at 7:29 PM
Sekhmet on April 17, 2008 at 7:25 PM
We don’t. But we didn’t have any proof that she didn’t.
However, it does look like it may be just “performance art”
http://www.nysun.com/news/national/yale-students-art-project-creative-fiction
darclon on April 17, 2008 at 7:31 PM
So proud of the art that Shvarts’ advisor just yanked the video from YouTube.
vanderleun on April 17, 2008 at 7:43 PM
I had just never heard it put that way, tis all. I’m good if you are.
the goddess anna on April 17, 2008 at 8:43 PM
A moment before birth it is a person. A moment after fertilization it isn’t.
dedalus on April 18, 2008 at 1:22 AM
And the time in between? Is that simply up for debate depending on the latest advances in science, which can already make a fetus viable even when it’s legal to abort.
Esthier on April 18, 2008 at 9:49 AM
Yes, it is debated and may always be. I don’t think viability should be the measure since the fundamental right to life ought not be granted and rescinded based on medical changes.
dedalus on April 18, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Comment pages: « 1 2 [3]