A professor who supports abortion worries that the exhibit is “misleading” and that the FDA has not yet approved the use of natural abortifacients.
Dried herbs and an outside garden with flowers that were previously used to induce pregnancies are included in an exhibit at Barnard College about the” changing conditions of biological rights in the United States.”
The” Trigger Planting 2.0″ show debuted in October. A Tuesday information session on” self-managed pregnancy” and the “abortion pill” is one of the ongoing activities relating to the show.
Together, the tasks appear to suggest that women can use the plants to kill their newborn children if they choose.
At the celebration Tuesday, participants may “discuss the story of self-managed pregnancy, what it is, how medication pregnancies work, and why this is important knowledge”, the event website says. We will examine self-managed abortion as an important method of group treatment as exposure to abortion is becoming more restricted and criminalized.
The celebration is co-sponsored by the show itself, the school library, and the Barnard Center for Research on Women.
The College Fix has received numerous requests for comment from each of the individuals or organizations connected to the pregnancy screen over the past fortnight.  , The Fix asked if the abortion garden may be everlasting, if the flowers on screen are for educational purposes only, and if there are any warning names to prevent home research.
In a follow up email Monday, The Fix also asked for more details about the” self-managed abortion” event and the organizers ‘ response to concerns that some might raise about women’s safety.
Barnard College is hosting a ‘ self-managed abortion ‘ event this week.
Michael New, a professor at Catholic University of America, expressed concerns about the abortion garden.
In a recent email, New reported that” the exhibition appears to be disseminating false information about abortion.” The FDA has not yet issued an FDA recommendation for use of any herbal abortifacient. Numerous herbal abortifacients are toxic and pose serious health risks. I’m not sure if the display mentions this.
New also questioned the uncertainty surrounding the garden itself. He regularly conducts research and writing about abortion, including the risks of abortion medications.
” It’s possible that this display may lead to harmful health effects for women using herbal abortifacients at home. Additionally, it is possible that students are permitted to consume the herbs from the garden itself. There hasn’t been much reporting on that”, New told The Fix.
New claimed that while the private institution is “undoubtedly allowed to display support for legal abortion,” there needs to be greater efforts to counteract opposing viewpoints.
” I sincerely doubt that Barnard is investing in any program to advance pro-life ideas,” New said. When universities attack one side of a contentious subject, it can have a chilling effect. It certainly doesn’t encourage discussion and dialogue.
Architecture professor Kadambari Baxi is one of the leaders behind the exhibit at the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning at Barnard.
In a university news article, Baxi claimed that herbalists who used the plants displayed in Trigger Planting were historically using them for abortion and reproductive health as self-managed options that empowered women and families.
Both inside a garden and outdoors, the plants and signs that describe their use are on display.
The Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning’s “artists will find the plants lined neatly behind a large map of the United States that hangs in the lobby and in outdoor planting beds as part of an exhibition that examines shifting political, legal, social, and environmental landscapes and advocates for expansive reproductive justice in a post-Roe world,” according to the article.
The map marks states where abortions are legal, restricted, or banned. In New York, where Barnard is located, abortions are legal with few restrictions.
The display’s name refers to” trigger laws,” which are pro-life state laws that became effective after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
Miriam Neptune, the director of exhibitions at the library, is the curator of Trigger Planting 2.0, according to the university.
Neptune stated in the article that” this exhibition aims to spark a conversation about the impact of abortion access laws on actual people.”
The display is “fully funded” by the college. It is an updated version of a 2022 project Baxi was involved with,” TRIGGER PLANTING” by the group “how to perform an abortion” and A. I. R. gallery in partnership with National Women’s Liberation, according to a description on the Barnard Library website.
Others involved with the exhibit include lead groundskeeper and horticulturist Keith Gabora, as well as other staff, students, and faculty.
Gabora praised the beautifying elements the exhibition brings to campus in the university news article and suggested the abortion garden would be “permanent.”
The garden’s permanent location will help to expose this issue once it is finished, Gabora said.” I look forward to keeping it up and using it as a resource for future generations.”
Baxi and other project organizers plan to keep adding “new materials” to the exhibit” continually”, according to the article.
The professor has the “vision” to develop the project into a “pedagogical garden” as the Center for Engaged Pedagogy ( CEP ) curates fall and spring 2025 curricular initiatives related to the exhibition, according to the article.
The college advertised the exhibit on its website and social media accounts, but none of the people contacted by The Fix responded to its inquiries about the display.
The Fix reached out to Baxi, Gabora at least three times in the past month via the facilities office, the media relations office, and the Barnard student organization, Reproductive Justice Collective. No one responded to inquiries about the exhibit’s permanence or the information on the abortifacient plants. Neptune sent an automated response to The Fix stating she would be away from the office until February 11; this was a message that was sent to The Fix.
MORE: A feminist class at Ithaca College teaches students how to “refuse abortion bans.”
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