two years pass...
http://yaledailynews.com/story.html
Martine Powers
Staff Reporter
Published Thursday, April 17, 2008
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CloseArt major Aliza Shvarts '08 wants to make a statement.
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. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.
The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts' project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock — saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.
But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for "shock value."
"I hope it inspires some sort of discourse," Shvarts said. "Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it's not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone."
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.
Art major Juan Castillo '08 said that although he was intrigued by the creativity and beauty of her senior project, not everyone was as thrilled as he was by the concept and the means by which she attained the result.
"I really loved the idea of this project, but a lot other people didn't," Castillo said. "I think that most people were very resistant to thinking about what the project was really about. [The senior-art-project forum] stopped being a conversation on the work itself."
Although Shvarts said she does not remember the class being quite as hostile as Castillo described, she said she believes it is the nature of her piece to "provoke inquiry."
"I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity," Shvarts said. "I think that I'm creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be."
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.
School of Art lecturer Pia Lindman, Schvarts' senior-project advisor, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
Few people outside of Yale's undergraduate art department have heard about Shvarts' exhibition. Members of two campus abortion-activist groups — Choose Life at Yale, a pro-life group, and the Reproductive Rights Action League of Yale, a pro-choice group — said they were not previously aware of Schvarts' project.
Alice Buttrick '10, an officer of RALY, said the group was in no way involved with the art exhibition and had no official opinion on the matter.
Sara Rahman '09 said, in her opinion, Shvarts is abusing her constitutional right to do what she chooses with her body.
"[Shvarts' exhibit] turns what is a serious decision for women into an absurdism," Rahman said. "It discounts the gravity of the situation that is abortion."
CLAY member Jonathan Serrato '09 said he does not think CLAY has an official response to Schvarts' exhibition. But personally, Serrato said he found the concept of the senior art project "surprising" and unethical.
"I feel that she's manipulating life for the benefit of her art, and I definitely don't support it," Serrato said. "I think it's morally wrong."
Shvarts emphasized that she is not ashamed of her exhibition, and she has become increasingly comfortable discussing her miscarriage experiences with her peers.
"It was a private and personal endeavor, but also a transparent one for the most part," Shvarts said. "This isn't something I've been hiding."
He, he
― am0n, Saturday, 19 April 2008 05:39 (eighteen years ago)
seven months pass...
Outrage over Planned Parenthood Christmas 'gift' cards
'It is difficult to think of a more tasteless, ghoulish thing to give anyone'
Posted: November 26, 2008
9:05 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/images/misc/pp.jpg
Planned Parenthood's "gift" certificates
Planned Parenthood, which in past years has promoted a "Choice on Earth" abortion campaign during the Christmas season, has a new outreach, offering Christmas gift certificates to be used for abortions.
"It is difficult to think of a more tasteless, ghoulish thing to give anyone. I refuse to refer to these financial instruments as gifts as they are nothing more than a legal way to put a hit out on someone," said a participant in a forum at the online Lone Star Times, where the plan was reported.
"Planned Parenthood, this generation's King Herod, you know, the guy who ordered the mass slaughter of babies when Jesus was born," added WND columnist Jill Stanek, who also documented the plan on her blog.
Display the classic magnetic bumper sticker: "Former embryo on board," only from WND's store.
According to the Lone Star Times, the nation's leading player in the abortion industry is "celebrating the most important crisis pregnancy of all time by selling gift certificates, perfect for the woman who has everything but moral fiber … And it's so much easier than finding the perfect 'Baby's First Christmas' ornament."
According to WISH-TV in Indianapolis, the controversial plan has people talking.
"People are making really tough decisions about putting gas in their car and food on their table, so we know that many women especially put healthcare at the bottom of their list to do," Chrystal Struben-Hall, an official for the abortion business, told the station.
The report said the certificates come in $25 increments and can be used for everything from birth control to $58 examinations that include breast exams and pap tests.
"They can be seen for sexually transmitted disease screenings, HIV tests and general prostate exams and those kinds of things," said Struben-Hall.
But can they be used for abortions?
Of course, Struben-Hall said. "We decided not to put restrictions on."
Stanek has campaigned to alert the American public of President-elect Barack Obama's extreme pro-abortion position. In fact, Obama considered partial birth abortion a "legitimate medical procedure" and opposed a requirement that abortionists provide life-preserving care for infants who survive abortion attempts, because of the burden it would impose on the abortionist.
On the Lone Star Times forums page, the reactions ranged from horror, to, well, horror:
* "A gift for those who only want to kill the very innocent."
* "Good for one dead baby."
* "Redeem this at Planned Parenthood. No other redemption possible. Ever."
* "I cannot think of a more evil organization."
* "What a marvelous way for the donor as well as the recipient-user to have blood on their hands."
* "No matter what you believe about abortions this has GOT to disgust people that you would 'give' that kind of thing as a gift to someone!?? I mean WHO would you give it to??? 'Here best friend in case you ever need an abortion.'"
* "I met a woman once who CELEBRATED her abortion because she was 'happy that no MAN could tell her what to do with her body.' It was all I could do to walk away silently without puking in her face. She's the kind of person that would give all the women she knew one of these gift death certificates.
WND has reported Planned Parenthood's various "Choice on Earth" campaigns at Christmas.
One promotion included a "holiday" card that said, "'Tis the season to share with family, friends, colleagues and loved ones the message of 'choice on earth.'"
At that time Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League's STOPP International, slammed Planned Parenthood.
"In its continual attempt to 'normalize' abortion, Planned Parenthood has once again chosen to offend the Christian community by releasing the latest edition of its 'Choice on Earth' holiday cards," said Sedlak in a statement. "Contrary to the open-minded image the abortion organization aims to present for itself, Planned Parenthood has zero tolerance for anyone – or any religious group – that recognizes abortion as an evil act that kills a pre-born baby."
The controversial theme is derived from a passage in the Gospel of Luke, where an angel announces to shepherds the birth of their savior in Bethlehem.
The King James version of the Bible states: "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"
"By replacing 'peace' with 'choice,' or more accurately, 'killing the innocent on earth,' Planned Parenthood is essentially saying 'abortion on earth,'" Sedlak said. "This blatant mockery of Christian values – and of Christ Himself – truly demonstrates the bigoted, anti-religion, anti-God nature of Planned Parenthood."
WND reported during the 2008 presidential election campaign when Obama's team struck out at an abortion survivor.
It happened when an Obama advertisement implied the abortion survivor was part of a "sleazy" campaign for promoting a "despicable lie" about the senator's voting record.
Abortion survivor Gianna Jessen's responded, "I've dealt with worse; I survived an abortion."
As WND reported, the 31-year-old Jessen, who was born alive following her mother's botched abortion, made a television advertisement highlighting Obama's votes against born-alive infant protection bills while he was serving as a state senator in Illinois.
The Obama campaign responded with an advertisement of its own labeling Sen. John McCain's campaign ads as "sleazy" and "truly vile," while showing clips from Jessen's ad in the background, including a photo of Jessen.
Jessen then created another commercial in response, opening with clips of the Obama campaign's ad, which she says amounted to a personal attack.
"Seen this ad? In it, Senator Obama personally attacks me," Jessen says in the commercial. "I've dealt with worse; I survived an abortion."
The latest ad from Jessen can be seen below:
Jessen's organization, BornAliveTruth.org, is responsible for the advertisement and was not – as Obama's advertisement implied – connected to the McCain campaign.
― dat dude delmar (and what), Tuesday, 2 December 2008 19:28 (seventeen years ago)