The Governed Body
Laia Abril’s On Abortion at the Museum of Sex
On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access, A History of Misogyny Part 1,
Laia Abril, Museum of Sex, February 7 – October 15, 2020
“Abortion is a word. Abortion is an experience shared by millions of women around the world. Abortion, when legal and safe, can liberate a woman from the crisis of unintended motherhood. Abortion, when driven by misogyny and religious extremism into the back alley, can destroy a woman’s ability ever to become a mother - or even end her life. Here in the United States, where botched illegal abortions once killed an estimated 10,000 women a year and left many thousands of others sterile, public policy is now hurtling backward to drive clinics out of business and place abortion out of reach for those who most need access to it. Instead of stigma and silence, we need to raise our voices and lift our sights, as this fascinating exhibit by a brilliant young artist inspires us to do. Abortion is a word. It is also a right we must fight for.”
Installation view, On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access. Image courtesy of Museum of Sex.
Amidst a heightened carnival-esque atmosphere at the Museum of Sex, with its newly installed SuperFunLand interactive installation and glitzy yet text-heavy Cam Life and Stag: The Illicit Origins of Pornographic Film shows, is a sobering gem of an exhibition. On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access deploys text viscerally, connecting us to real women’s abortion stories.
Through a well-researched, global feminist, anthropological lens, Museum of Sex Curator Lissa Rivera presents Spanish artist Laia Abril’s On Abortion. Abril, a former journalist and acclaimed photographer, shares stories primarily through photos and written text combined, centering “herstories” along with the actual medical tools and equipment used for unauthorized abortions, including an ominous antique wooden abortion chair. Visitors get to explore international abortion history and currents for a snapshot of the violent public health crisis that would surely ensue in the U.S. if women lose their right to choose. I visited the exhibition on Valentine’s Day, and observed viewers, many of them young couples, taking their time to digest the stark, arresting truth.
Installation view, On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access. Image courtesy of Museum of Sex.
Many of us are angered and terrified by the vivid threat of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court ruling asserting a woman’s right to choose abortion without excessive government restriction, being overturned. Our current conservative Supreme Court passed the pro-life tipping point with Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
On Abortion examines what happens when the patriarchy exerts its power over what a woman chooses to do with her own body — presenting as an unholy trinity of church, state, and often the sexual partner of the woman seeking an abortion. Worldwide, governments can decide whether a womb-holder lives or dies, is jailed or tortured, forced to give birth or forced to abort. The state can decide which reasons for terminating a pregnancy are acceptable and which are not. Religions instill fear, deem abortion to be tantamount to murder, and value fetal life over the lives of women.
Installation view, On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access. Image courtesy of Museum of Sex.
I have selected a few of the stories directly quoted here from the exhibition that highlight varied acts of abortion-related violence against women. These are the stories I can’t get out of my mind:
“In November 2015, nine year old Inocencia gave birth to a baby boy in Nicaragua. He was the son of her own biological father, who had raped Inocencia repeatedly from the age of seven”
Many countries, including Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Somalia, Congo, Egypt, Iran and Lebanon do not consider rape a legitimate reason and only permit abortion when the woman’s life is at risk. Stricter laws apply in Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Malta and The Vatican, the five nations in the world where abortion is prohibited under any circumstance.
“The Abortion Saint: Saint Gianna Beretta Molla (October 4, 1922 to April 28, 1962) was an Italian pediatrician who refused an abortion during her fourth pregnancy, even though continuing the pregnancy would kill her. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2004 and is a patron saint for mothers, physicians and unborn children.”
Installation view, On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access. Image courtesy of Museum of Sex.
“In 1928, a 22-year old Brazilian schoolteacher named Philomena wrote a letter to her boyfriend Romeu, warning that she was about to have an illegal abortion at a Rio de Janeiro clinic. As Philomena predicted, she did not survive the procedure. Philomena wrote: ‘I did what you advised me to do, not only because I could not let the traces of an illicit love appear but also for the great love that we have consecrated. I feel horrible and may not survive... And if [this is] so, I ask you to forgive [my] numerous mistakes: of love alone I committed them.’”
Installation view, On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access. Image courtesy of Museum of Sex.
“On January 2, 2015, I travelled to Slovenia to have an abortion. I was too scared to take DIY abortion pills alone. What if something went wrong? So I decided to get a surgical abortion in a clinic abroad. I felt upset about borrowing money for the procedure, and lonely and frustrated because I couldn’t tell anyone what was happening. The hardest part was facing my boyfriend, who opposes abortion. At the same time, I felt stronger and more mature afterwards.
I got pregnant during Christmas, then had to wait for a few weeks before I took the trip. I was so anxious to avoid the process and save the money that I first tried to end the pregnancy myself. The night before departing, I took a bath in very hot water and swallowed aspirin to induce a miscarriage. I wanted to feel stronger than the law. But I didn’t succeed because I was afraid of hurting myself. When I packed for the 15-hour trip, I took only underwear, this nightdress that I hate and 445 [Euros] to pay for the procedure.
I was seven weeks pregnant when I finally made the trip. I waited at a gas station in Krakow, and then jumped into a van with two other pregnant girls. I called my (now ex-) boyfriend from the road and he begged me not to do it. When I mentioned the stuffiness and how packed it was with people, he answered, ‘that seems right, murderers should be treated like cattle.’ ”
Installation view, On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access. Image courtesy of Museum of Sex.
“GYL and her husband were forced into exile after violating China’s “one-child” policy. According to her 2012 testimony before the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, GYL was eight months pregnant with her third child when she was accosted in the street by a woman asking for a “birth permit” in May 1995. GYL admitted that she had none and was forced into a van. There, someone in a surgical mask felt her belly for the baby’s position, then killed it with a long needle through the abdomen. GYL identified the woman and the people in the van as members of the country’s Family Planning Commission”
Installation view, On Abortion and the Repercussions of Lack of Access. Image courtesy of Museum of Sex.
“In October 2014, Kenyan nurse Jackson Namunya Tali, 41, was sentenced to hang for killing Christine Atieno during a botched abortion. According to Tali’s wife, the pregnant Atieno “was in pain” and began bleeding despite his attempts to treat her. She died in Tali’s car on the way to the hospital. Abortion in Kenya is only permitted in case of emergency treatment or when the mother’s life is in danger. An estimated 465,000 clandestine and unsafe abortions were committed in Kenya in 2012, killing more than 1,200 women.”
So where does this all leave us? My mother always reminds me that Roe v. Wade was a decision she and her generation fought long and hard for. Back in her heyday, there was no birth control, she grew up Catholic, and she lived in mortal fear of pregnancy, until finally she got married. How do we womb-holders maintain our power to choose safe and legal abortion without interference from church and state and yes, even our sexual partners? “Our Bodies, Our Choice” means so much more after contemplating the specific struggles women are currently facing worldwide. It’s not “this could be us,” this is US. We are Inocencia, Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, Philomena, Marta, GYL, Tal, and Christine. Our lives are sacred and we need to stand in solidarity: the time is now.
