Yale says ‘abortion art’ a hoax

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A Yale University art student’s claim that she induced repeated abortions on herself and used the blood for her senior project is false, school officials said after her account was published in the student newspaper.

Aliza Shvarts described the project in a story Thursday in the Yale Daily News. She said she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while taking herbal drugs to induce miscarriages.

The account swept across blogs and media outlets before Yale issued a statement saying it investigated and found it all to be a hoax that was Shvarts’ idea of elaborate “performance art.”

“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,” said Yale spokeswoman Helaine Klasky.

But in a guest column published in Friday’s student newspaper, Shvarts insisted the project was real. She described her “repeated self-induced miscarriages,” although she conceded she never knew if she was actually pregnant.

Klasky said that when confronted by three senior Yale officials, including two deans, Shvarts acknowledged that she was never pregnant and did not induce abortions.