An Idaho university removes artwork about abortion, citing a state law

Artworks about abortion are, historically, vanishingly rare. And the future display of such work looks bleaker after a small public university in Idaho removed six works on abortion and birth control from an exhibit, citing a state anti-abortion law.

Lewis-Clark State College, in Lewiston, removed works days before opening this month of “Unconditional Care: Listening to People’s Health Needs.” The school’s art and history center described his performance as an exploration of “today’s biggest health problems” through the stories of those affected, including “chronic illness, disability, pregnancy, sexual assault and gun violence, and deaths.”

Several national civil rights groups have criticized the school’s decision or the state law it was trying to navigate.

The work of three artists was removed, including Katrina Majkut, the show’s guest curator. Her censored work is an embroidery depicting vials of mifepristone and misoprostol, drugs used together to terminate a pregnancy; accompanying wall text explains their efficacy and state laws governing their use.

“I’ve shown this work in red and blue states,” Majkut said. “I’ve never had a problem. Never heard a peep.”

Majkut says the college also notified her hours before opening that it was not allowed to display wall writing explaining Idaho’s abortion laws.

“You can be against or for abortion, but the purpose of the artwork, and the exhibition in general, is to discuss difficult topics with mutual respect and empathy,” she said.

from Idaho No Public Funds for Abortion Bill, which was passed in 2021, a year before the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Roe v. Wade, prohibits using state funds to perform, “promote” or “advise in favor of” abortions. Penalties include fines and imprisonment.

A Lewis-Clark spokesperson said in a statement that on February 26, the school “became aware of concerns” about the exhibit and was subsequently informed by its legal counsel that “some of the proposed exhibits could not be included.” The spokesperson declined to answer questions about who raised concerns about a show that was not yet open to the public. Emily Johnsen, director of the Center for Arts & History, did not respond to a request for comment.

Artists Michelle Hartney and Lydia Nobles also had works removed from the Lewis-Clark show.

Hartney’s work is a print of a handwritten transcription of one of thousands of letters written a century ago to Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, by women begging for information about birth control at a time when federal Comstock laws prohibited the use of post banned from distributing material defined as “obscene and illicit.” Contraception was cited as an example.

“The letter writer just mentions having an abortion in the 1920s,” Hartney said, “but the larger project it’s part of, called ‘Unplanned Parenthood,’ isn’t about abortion, and it’s designed that way. It’s about the history of birth control in the US.”

A Nobles series, “As I Sit Waiting,” presents video and audio of interviews with women about their experience accessing abortion, as well as sculptures that resemble abstracted waiting room chairs. Three videos And An sound recording were removed from the exhibition.

Nobles said she wasn’t sure what to answer when Johnsen, the center’s director, asked her in late February if her work promoted abortion. “My work presents unbiased, first-person accounts,” she said.

Criticism of the school’s decision was pointed. The statesman of Idaho published an editorial decrying “a regime of censorship” and PEN America mentioned the removal of Nobles’ work “a slap in the face to artistic and academic freedom.” The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Coalition Against Censorship sent a letter to the principal of the schoolCynthia Pemberton, who says the decision to remove Nobles’ work threatens a “basic First Amendment principle.”

Pemberton did not respond to a request for comment.

Scarlet Kim, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU who signed the letter, said in an interview that the Idaho law was “deeply disturbing and scary” and frightening speech in public universities. She compared it to a wave of legislation against discussing critical race theory in schools, which she says could be used to censor artwork about race.

“Speech favorable to abortion can be part of academic discussions about science, medicine, philosophy and gender equality,” she said.

Hartney, one of the artists affected, said: “Sanger was indeed arrested for giving information to people, and in the same way the government is now trying to silence us.” She continued, “The voices of these women from the past are important.”