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INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 87
©2022 The Michigan Daily

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

STATEMENT... . . . . . . . . . . .4

MIC ........................ 5 

O PIN IO N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
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The current state and future of 

abortion care at Michigan Medicine 

What abortion access looks like at U-M

The Supreme Court’s June 24 

overturning of Roe v. Wade ignited 
rapid changes in state abortion laws, 
with eight states having already 
banned abortion and four more 
expected to do so over the summer.

Abortion 
remains 
legal 
in 

Michigan due to a preliminary 
injunction against the state’s 1931 
law 
criminalizing 
all 
abortions 

except to save the pregnant person’s 
life. The 1931 law was nullified by 
the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision but 
never officially repealed. In light 
of the uncertainty surrounding 
abortion access in Michigan, a 
coalition of organizations created 
the Reproductive Freedom for All 
ballot initiative, a constitutional 
amendment to protect reproductive 
rights that received over 800,000 
signatures in support.

The draft decision to overturn 

Roe v. Wade was initially published 
by Politico in May, after which the 

University of Michigan announced 
the creation of a “Post-Roe Task 
Force” composed of individuals 
across various areas and occupations, 
including healthcare professionals, 
legal representatives and students 
and faculty working in relevant 
research areas. The task force is 
designed to mitigate the effects of a 
potential abortion ban in Michigan.

Dr. Lisa Harris, a physician at 

Michigan Medicine who provides 
abortion care and a co-chair of the 
task force, said this task force covered 
a wide variety of topics that arose 
when Roe v. Wade was overturned.

“There’s two broad buckets of 

work that the task force is doing,” 
Harris said. “One is campus work, 
so thinking about all the ways in 
which students and faculty and staff 
across all the different campuses and 
schools will be impacted. And the 
second bucket is around clinical care 
and treatment.”

Harris described the task force’s 

sub-committees, which are working 
to address individual issues, such as 
which abortions Michigan Medicine 
could still provide if the 1931 ban, or a 
ban like it, were to take effect, as well 

RILEY HODDER & 
SAMANTHA RICH 

Summer Managing News Editor & 

Summer News Editor

SAMANTHA RICH 

Summer News Editor

as clarifying Title IX protections and 
student insurance policies.

Following the official overturning 

of Roe v. Wade, Michigan Medicine 
released 
a 
public 
statement 

reaffirming 
its 
commitment 

to providing abortion care and 
resources, so long as abortion 
remains legal in the state.

“U-M Health remains committed 

to 
providing 
high-quality, 
safe 

reproductive care for patients, across 
all their reproductive health needs,” 
the statement read. “This includes 
abortion care, which remains legal in 
Michigan while challenges to various 
state-law criminal statutes continue 
to proceed.”

According to Michigan Medicine, 

many of the patients for whom they 
provide abortions are experiencing 
serious 
pregnancy 
complications 

or underlying health conditions. 
While they can provide outpatient 
medication abortions in some cases, 
they also outline various local clinics 
such as the Planned Parenthood Ann 
Arbor Health Center that do so more 
often.

Over 340 incoming and current 

University 
of 
Michigan 
medical 

students have signed a petition 
opposing the selection of Dr. Kristin 
Collier as the keynote speaker for 
the upcoming July 24 White Coat 
Ceremony, where incoming medical 
students will receive their white 
coats to mark their entry into the 
field of medicine. An additional 72 
community members — including 
graduate 
students, 
alumni 
and 

Michigan Medicine residents and 
physicians — have also signed on.

According to the petition, Collier 

has shared multiple anti-abortion 
posts on social media and made 
comments expressing her opposition 
to abortion in interviews. The petition 
calls on the University to select an 
alternative speaker, emphasizing that 
student opposition to this speaker 
selection goes beyond a difference 
in opinion and subverts the values 
of the University and the medical 
profession. 

“While we support the rights of 

freedom of speech and religion, an 
anti-choice speaker as a representative 
of 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan 

undermines the University’s position 
on abortion and supports the non-
universal, theology-rooted platform 
to 
restrict 
abortion 
access, 
an 

essential part of medical care,” the 

petition reads. “This is not simply a 
disagreement on personal opinion; 
through our demand we are standing 
up in solidarity against groups who 
are trying to take away human rights 
and restrict medical care.”

Following the Supreme Court’s 

overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, 
the U-M administration and Michigan 
Medicine 
published 
statements 

affirming the University’s dedication 
to reproductive healthcare. In their 
statement, Michigan Medicine said 
they would continue to provide all 
necessary reproductive healthcare, 
including abortion care, as long as it 
was legal in the state of Michigan. 

“U-M Health remains committed 

to 
providing 
high-quality, 
safe 

reproductive care for patients, across 
all their reproductive health needs,” 
the statement read. “This includes 
abortion care, which remains legal in 
Michigan while challenges to various 
state-law criminal statutes continue 
to proceed.”

The petition calls on the University 

to re-evaluate its choice of speaker 
and select someone who better 
embodies the values outlined in the 
aforementioned statements. 

“We demand that (the University) 

stands in solidarity with us and selects 
a speaker whose values align with 
institutional policies, students, and 
the broader medical community,” 
the petition reads. 

340+ UMich medical 
students sign petition 
opposing selection of 
anti-abortion speaker 

at upcoming white 

coat ceremony

Current and incoming medical students 
oppose the selection of Dr. Kristin Collier

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