<p>OK I have read more about the project. I also question whether she was ever actually pregnant. There are old wife’s tales and urban legends galore about “herbal” abortifacants. If they really worked, we would not have the numbers of unplanned pregnancies or actual terminations that we do. Either she was never pregnant, or she was getting prescription meds on the net and saying she was using herbal products. Getting weirder. The fact that she was so unconcerned aboutpotentioal health risks makes me wonder if she really ever took any risk.</p>
<p>oh man am I glad I am not this young woman’s mother</p>
<p>“If they really worked, we would not have the numbers of unplanned pregnancies or actual terminations that we do.”</p>
<p>They can work. Natural abortifacients are not popular in this country because they’re unreliable, risky, unpleasant, and often hard to get. But they can work. There are all kinds of poisons in nature, and some of them have abortifacient effects.</p>
<p>“not fetuses, correct?”</p>
<p>Based on the description of constant insemination and frequent use of abortifacients, there wouldn’t be fetuses per se, and what there is would not be recognizable. A miscarriage at less than 6 weeks just looks like blood, clots, and tissue. They’re very common, and unless a woman is trying to conceive and therefore taking frequent pregnancy tests, they can be mistaken for late, heavy periods.</p>
<p>“Shvarts previously studied at the Los Angeles Buckley School.
In her final year there, she won an award for “good leadership and good citizenship”. </p>
<p>[Art</a> student ‘induced miscarriages for university project’ - Telegraph](<a href=“http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/17/wart117.xml]Art”>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/17/wart117.xml)</p>
<p>This reminds me in some way of the movie “Supersize me”, except of course this is a lot more dramatic and controversial. The guy in Supersize me was also hurting his own body to make a statement.</p>
<p>I do believe it sends a pro-life, rather than pro-choice message and it may have been the student’s intent all along. </p>
<p>As a pro-choice individual myself, this project does make me stop to ask how strongly I support a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. Do pro-choice people here think this kind of project should be outlawed? Should there be a specific law against deliberately getting pregnant with the intention of aborting? What about people who use abortion simply as a method of contraception? </p>
<p>We have laws to protect animals from wanton acts of cruelty. For example, it would be illegal to take a laboratory mouse and put it in the microwave or blender for an art project. Does the fetus deserve any such protection?</p>
<p>Finally, while it is repulsive and ill-advised, I think it does qualify as ‘art’ and I must say it is pretty creative, and has probably provoked a lot of thought and discussion. That girl sure knows how to think outside the box.</p>
<p>“it would be illegal to take a laboratory mouse and put it in the microwave or blender for an art project.”</p>
<p>It would? In what state?</p>
<p>Hanna, that was my point (about the lack of fetuses). She can claim she artificially inseminated herself (no clinics involved) and that she took drugs to induce abortions (no prescriptions, or at least no proof she took the drugs), and she videotaped herself in a bathtub with blood, but there is no evidence she ever was pregnant or even tried to be.</p>
<p>The result of the display: shock and horror even by pro-choice folks, as evidenced on this thread. I’m just suggesting that may have been her point.</p>
<p>I’m just guessing, but I must say I don’t see the point of the project if in fact she did what she says she did.</p>
<p>Let me clarify- it would not be illegal to put the mouse in the microwave or blender, but it would be illegal to switch on the power button! </p>
<p>I believe that would violate laws against cruelty to animals in all states. I just did a quick google search to verify. Here’s an example of a link:</p>
<p>[Cruelty</a> Laws](<a href=“http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html/cruelty_laws.html]Cruelty”>Stray Pet Advocacy)</p>
<p>“she videotaped herself in a bathtub with blood, but there is no evidence she ever was pregnant”</p>
<p>I guess it would depend on what’s actually in the video. If it’s extremely graphic, then a trained eye could certainly tell the difference. But maybe it’s not that graphic. We don’t know, and I sure don’t intend to find out, just how much you can see.</p>
<p>^^^I’m not looking, either.</p>
<p>Appalling. My daughter who is accepted at Yale did not respond well when we visited over spring break. Everything just seemed too over-the-top: the gothic architecture, the super enthusiastic tour guide, the kids swinging from trees in the courtyard of the residence halls, etc. Just too much. Trying too hard. </p>
<p>This poor young woman needs help. And she needs out of New Haven.</p>
<p>Turns out it’s all a hoax. It was performance art with the art being the trick she pulled on all of us. see [Yale</a> University :: Office of Public Affairs](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/opa/]Yale”>http://www.yale.edu/opa/)</p>
<p>Not a funny hoax. ExhibitIONISM.</p>
<p>“Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.”</p>
<p>This is hardly a hilarious April Fools Day joke.</p>
<p>I will just point out that my post said “if this is real.” I had a feeling there was something unreal about it. Stupid and immature.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’d like her to explain her point. What is so ambiguous about abortion? The fact that women’s bodies are designed to create life not destroy it, yet we can choose to destroy it? Gosh, gee. I really didn’t know that. What next, a fake game of Russian roulette (complete with press releases and official interviews and an installation piece) to draw attention to the ambiguity between a gun’s form and its function?</p>
<p>Yep, Yale got on this pronto. Probably more than a few donors made phone calls.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m afraid I don’t get the “ambiguity between form and function” part, though.</p>
<p>What an attention whore. This just strikes me as the height of immaturity. I’d fail her for this stunt if I was the prof.</p>
<p>I once went to an art exhibit, it was political in nature…there was one room, and on the floor where thousands and thousands of tissues, with “blood” on them, just drops of some red liquid, and it was to represent those women who had been circumsized/mutilated in the last year</p>
<p>it was indeed powerful, years later it still is in my head</p>
<p>not everyone’s cup of tea to be sure, but it was clear at the time it wasn’t real blood and it was to make a very clear point</p>
<p>but this,well, I don’t even see the point or the reason, except to get that 15minutes</p>
<p>Maybe she timed it for the Pope’s visit.</p>