Abortion Art A Hoax?

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein, Majikthise at 4:08 AM on April 18, 2008.

After this was written, Yale announced that the art project was a hoax. We are reprinting this blog post anyway, because it shows how blogs can be useful in correcting misinformation.

What do you want to bet that this is a hoax?

Art student Aliza Shvarts claims that she induced multiple miscarriages for her senior project at Yale--according to a story in the Yale Daily News, linked above.

Allegedly, the sperm came from donors whom Shvarts declines to identify. She says she used "legal", "herbal" preparations to induce these miscarriages "as often as possible" over the course of nine months, and never consulted a doctor about her plan.

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.

Shvarts declined to specify the number of sperm donors she used, as well as the number of times she inseminated herself. [Yale Daily News]

The Daily News was unable to reach Shvarts' senior-project adviser before press time. So, really all we have to go on is the Daily News' account of the student's description of her project. It just so happens that there is no medical record of her experiment. She claims that she inseminated herself, but she won't say where she got the sperm. Her academic supervisor isn't available to confirm the details of the project.

This whole story seems tailored to whip up conservative hysteria. It's as if someone came up with a formula that incorporated all their favorite bugbears: Irresponsible sluts, frivolous abortions, liberal academia, and self-indulgent performance art.

If this is a hoax, someone is playing a very dangerous game. There are a lot of violent "pro-lifers" out there. The story has gone viral. It's been picked up by the likes of Michelle Malkin. I've already seen one blog post calling Shvarts a "murdering Jewess."

I have to question the editorial judgment of the Daily News for running this piece without at least getting an official comment from the art school or Shvarts's supervisor about the nature of her project.

Tagged as: anti-choice, hoax, abortion

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.