# Pro-choice "art" from Yale student... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 17, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735 "2008-04-17T15:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/61 "2008-04-17T21:44:36Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] I disagree. He shoulda aborted it. [/QUOTE] What?! Those jokes are my babies! How _dare_ you?! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/62 "2008-04-17T21:45:29Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] What?! Those jokes are my babies! How _dare_ you?! [/QUOTE] Not if you take them out before they develop a CNS. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/63 "2008-04-17T22:03:12Z")
I have to say that I don’t believe for a second that she was actually pregnant. It’s possible the herbs gave her rough periods, but there’s no way she could have had that many successful pregnancies in a nine month period, and furthermore, no way herbal abortificants would have worked predictably and routinely and with no further medical care necessary. Also, I was an art student. I know what we’re like. 😉 It’s performance art, and she’s getting exactly the reaction she wanted, but no way in hell was she actually, literally pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/64 "2008-04-17T23:28:33Z")
[http://www.yale.edu/opa/](http://www.yale.edu/opa/) > [@](#): > > New Haven, Conn. — April 17, 2008 > > Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body. > > She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art. > > Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/65 "2008-04-17T23:42:10Z")
Oh man, I totally called it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/66 "2008-04-17T23:49:44Z")
Of course, this means that her statement quoted earlier in the thread that she “didn’t mean to scandalize” is definitively proved to be the purest bullcrap. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/67 "2008-04-18T00:20:08Z")
[QUOTE=XaMcQ] I’m probably one of the staunchest pro-choice people you’d ever care to meet, but I think this is twisted and sick. Frankly I think she could be charged with a crime, though one doesn’t immediately spring to mind. [/QUOTE] Perhaps you’re not quite as staunch as you think… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/68 "2008-04-18T00:20:41Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] Oh man, I totally called it. [/QUOTE] Yeah, but I called it first. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/69 "2008-04-18T00:20:55Z")
If I read this correctly the University is claiming to be in on the hoax? WTF. Is that suppose to make this all better? There’s no update in the paper. What if some whack-a-doo burns the art building down or attacks the “artist” or a faculty member?. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/70 "2008-04-18T00:23:22Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] If I read this correctly the University is claiming to be in on the hoax? WTF. Is that suppose to make this all better? There’s no update in the paper. What if some whack-a-doo burns the art building down or attacks the “artist” or a faculty member?. [/QUOTE] Some whiny bitch at Yale makes a shocking art piece news at 11. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/71 "2008-04-18T00:28:37Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] If I read this correctly the University is claiming to be in on the hoax? WTF. Is that suppose to make this all better? There’s no update in the paper. What if some whack-a-doo burns the art building down or attacks the “artist” or a faculty member?. [/QUOTE] Won’t somebody _please_ think of those with the minds of children?! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/72 "2008-04-18T00:31:17Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Won’t somebody _please_ think of those with the minds of children?! [/QUOTE] See I’m looking at the bright side of all this. I will have been there when the viral meme came to an abrupt halt. I will be armed and ready with snopes for the occasion that some out of touch dumbass quotes it in their Pit thread. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/73 "2008-04-18T00:34:20Z")
[QUOTE=Richard Parker] Yeah, but I called it first. 🆒 [/QUOTE] Well, I didn’t claim to be _original_ 😉 Anyway, it’s not a hoax, it’s performance art; whatever you might think of it. People sent death threats over books, cartoons in the newspaper, a painting of the mother of god decorated with feces… uproar in art isn’t exactly a new thing. Do you think people should keep their mouths shut and not make statements? Whether her work is good or not, people are talking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/74 "2008-04-18T00:34:28Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] [QUOTE=FriarTed] I’d say it sailed long before the premeditated multiple-self-abortionist art project got launched. But I do get extremely sick of the anti-abortion crowd stating that every woman who has an abortion suffers negative physical, mental and/or emotional effects. I believe that’s what they hope will happen to every woman who has an abortion as their idea of a just punishment. [/QUOTE] Hypothetical-if this WAS true, she wasn’t just having abortions-she was artificially inducing miscarriages, which isn’t exactly the same thing. I would think that doing so-not to mention the constant drugs and so on-would probably do some sort of damage-at least physically. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/75 "2008-04-18T00:41:27Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] The artificial inseminators should tell her to kiss off, they have real patients who want to have babies to tend to. [/QUOTE] This is actually kind of funny; how much does sperm from a sperm bank cost? Don’t you think she could have gotten it, you know, closer to the source? And do you think sperm banks are going to keep selling her huge amounts of semen in order for her to routinely impregnate herself as often as possible over a nine month period to repeatedly abort? Even if in some crazy world they would, do you think they’d do it without some kind of medical involvement? Or are there shady, back alley sperm banks, where you can furtively buy buckets of the stuff on the sly? Maybe she posted an ad on Craig’s List: “Got any spare jizz on your hands? It IS okay to contact me with commercial interests.” I’m actually surprised any one believed this from the get-go. I bet the pro-lifers are having a field day–I can’t decide if it would be fun or not to see what shenanigans they’re up to. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/76 "2008-04-18T00:46:06Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] how much does sperm from a sperm bank cost? [/quote] I dunno, how much wood does a woodchuck chuck? ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/77 "2008-04-18T00:47:34Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Hypothetical-if this WAS true, she wasn’t just having abortions-she was artificially inducing miscarriages, which isn’t exactly the same thing. I would think that doing so-not to mention the constant drugs and so on-would probably do some sort of damage-at least physically. [/QUOTE] Yes, it actually _is_ the same thing. It’s even technically got the same name: “spontaneous abortion” vs. “therapeutic abortion”. ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/78 "2008-04-18T00:52:11Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] Or are there shady, back alley sperm banks, where you can furtively buy buckets of the stuff on the sly? [/QUOTE] Isn’t that what those guys in the trenchcoats are selling…? Yeah, I’m surprised it was believed at all. I’d been discussing it in a debate community elsewhere and I was one of only two people who didn’t immediately swallow it. I think it worked in her favor that it was something that tended to stir up strong emotions, so people weren’t as likely to think it over rationally before responding to it. The consequences and ramifications, sure, but the logistics of actually carrying it out…not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/79 "2008-04-18T01:02:38Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] I’m actually surprised any one believed this from the get-go. I bet the pro-lifers are having a field day–I can’t decide if it would be fun or not to see what shenanigans they’re up to. [/QUOTE] If it was anything but art I’d agree but menstrual art is sooooo yesterday. It would take something this retarded to make the news. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735/80 "2008-04-18T01:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=CaerieD] Isn’t that what those guys in the trenchcoats are selling…? Yeah, I’m surprised it was believed at all. I’d been discussing it in a debate community elsewhere and I was one of only two people who didn’t immediately swallow it. I think it worked in her favor that it was something that tended to stir up strong emotions, so people weren’t as likely to think it over rationally before responding to it. The consequences and ramifications, sure, but the logistics of actually carrying it out…not so much. [/QUOTE] And yet, here we are. Once again we see, Dopers are not normal people! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-choice-art-from-yale-student/445735.md?page=5)