The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Opinion
6 — Wednesday, July 27, 2022
BRANDON COWIT
Managing Editor
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
VANESSA KIEFER
Editor in Chief
E
ditor’s Note: In the July
20 print edition of The
Michigan
Daily,
this
editorial was mistakenly printed
with a paragraph from another,
unrelated piece inserted into it.
We apologize for this error and
any confusion it may have caused.
We are taking care to ensure that it
is never repeated.
*Content warning: rape, violence
The recent overturning of Roe
v. Wade has left United States
citizens shocked and undoubtedly
angry, considering most Americans
do not support the outlawing of
abortion. Overturning Roe v. Wade
means disaster for women across
the country. As a result of the 6-3
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
Organization ruling, the legality
of abortions is now determined by
each individual state, not by the
federal government, rescinding a
nearly 50-year-old federal legal
right. As of early July, only a
few states have directly banned
abortions, but countless others
seem to be pushing to restrict
access to abortions. This abolition
of a constitutional right puts the
health, safety and even lives of
millions of people with uteruses
at risk.
Specifically, women of Color
and low-income women are most
harmed by this recent Supreme
Court ruling. Twenty-six states
are likely to ban abortion, most
of them in the South — where
over half of Black Americans live.
Because Black women are almost
four times more likely to have the
procedure done than white women,
the impact of this ruling on them
is even more unjust. Indigenous
and Alaska Native women seeking
abortions, especially those in rural
or remote communities, will suffer
compounded effects from reduced
abortion access. Compared to
white women, they are two to
three times more likely to die in
childbirth.
In addition to these racial
inequities, abortion is and always
has been a class issue. In states
where
abortion
is
outlawed,
poor women will be forced to
have children — no matter the
circumstances leading up to their
pregnancies — due to the financial
resources traveling to another
state requires. Those unable to
travel might engage in unsafe
abortions. A nationwide abortion
ban is projected to increase the
number
of
pregnancy-related
deaths
by
21%.
America
has
decided to infringe on women’s
rights, imprinting sexism within
our legal code. These women who
are denied abortions in their home
states are also four times more
likely to live below the federal
poverty
line,
assuming
they
survive their potentially deadly
pregnancies. When two people
might be in the same situation
with an unwanted pregnancy,
wealth could be the deciding factor
between life and death.
Though the idea may seem far-
fetched, this decision could be
the harbinger of a government
overtly influenced by Christian
beliefs. This is the first time a
constitutional
right
has
been
taken
away
by
the
Supreme
Court,
and
Justice
Clarence
Thomas stated in a concurring
opinion that the Supreme Court
should also reconsider other legal
rights not explicitly stated in
the Constitution. This includes
Griswold v. Connecticut (the right
to buy and use contraceptives),
Lawrence v. Texas (the right to
same-sex sexual activity) and
Obergefell v. Hodges (the right
to same-sex marriage). While
the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
Health Organization decision and
Thomas’s seeming indifference
to fundamental civil rights might
seem shockingly barbaric, they
come as no surprise after the last
six years of American politics.
By electing Trump into office
in 2016, America doomed itself.
Trump explicitly stated in the 2016
presidential debates that he would
appoint
multiple
conservative
Supreme Court justices in order
to overturn Roe v. Wade — and
that was just the beginning.
Throughout
his
presidency,
he
leaned
on
pro-Christian,
conservative rhetoric to build and
sustain his political base, creating
room
within
the
American
political sphere for more radical,
conservative, religious ideologies
to
affect
public
policy.
This
rhetoric led to a set of policies that
includes (but is not limited to) the
Muslim travel ban, revoking rules
that allowed transgender kids to
use their preferred bathroom and
privileging federal COVID aid
to religious organizations over
secular ones. Clearly, and as stated
in the U.S. Constitution, America
is prohibited from establishing a
state-sponsored religion. But, with
the passage of these archaic anti-
abortion laws, the line between
Christian churches and the state is
becoming dangerously blurred.
While the overturning of Roe v.
Wade has often been referred to as
a women’s rights issue, the impact
of this decision will be felt — in
varying degrees — by transgender
men,
nonbinary
people
and
cisgender men as well. This is a
decision that affects us all, and we
must respond to it in a way that
reflects its severity and breadth.
With midterm elections coming
up this fall, voting for pro-choice
candidates is an integral part of
the fight for reproductive rights.
QUIN ZAPOLI
Editorial Page Editor
The University of Michigan must get a
lead on monkeypox before it’s too late
From The Daily: Now, more than ever, we
need to stand up for abortion rights
I
n the last six weeks, the United
States has watched domestic
monkeypox cases jump from
one to over 2,000. This virus is
already
spreading
throughout
Michigan, and it shows no sign
of slowing down. If powerful
institutions don’t act soon, we
risk repeating the same failures
that exacerbated the COVID-19
pandemic.
Before
monkeypox
develops further, the University
of Michigan and its leaders must
develop a virus mitigation plan,
communicate that plan to local
stakeholders and fight to secure
vaccines — our best tool for stopping
this disease — for those most at risk.
What
is
monkeypox?
Like
smallpox,
monkeypox
is
an
orthopoxvirus. This type of virus
causes its host’s body to break
out in weeping sores. These sores
can occur anywhere, but they are
often concentrated on the mouth,
face, genitals, hands and feet. This
virus’s characteristic blisters are
extraordinarily painful, keeping
people from eating, sleeping or
even using the restroom properly
for
weeks
at
a
time.
When
these sores heal, they may leave
permanent scarring. Those with
monkeypox will often display flu-
like symptoms: painful swelling
of the lymph nodes, skin rashes,
exhaustion and more. Monkeypox
isn’t a short-lived disease, either.
Its symptoms may last up to a
month, during which time one
must quarantine. This disease can
be incredibly disruptive to one’s
job, classes, social life and mental
health.
People can transmit this virus
through primary contact (direct
touching),
secondary
contact
(touching
something
someone
sick has touched) and bodily
fluids (saliva or fomites). Experts
currently believe that primary
contact is responsible for the
majority of cases, and while the
media has focused on the link
between
sexual
activity
and
monkeypox exposure, Dr. Robert
Murphy, an infectious diseases
expert at Northwestern Medicine
notes that monkeypox is “not an
STD in the classic sense.” Any form
of direct contact with someone
risks exposure — that includes
hugging, kissing or even dancing
closely with others on a crowded
dance floor.
If the growing outbreak of
monkeypox isn’t on your radar,
I’m not surprised. To date, the
University of Michigan has failed
to
make
any
university-wide
communications about the spread
of this disease. The University
Health Service has no easily
accessible information about its
symptoms or how to report a case:
in fact, searching “monkeypox” on
the UHS website returns no results
whatsoever. There’s only been one
University affiliated blog post on
monkeypox written in the last six
weeks — a piece which calls the
disease a “rare viral threat.”
Except monkeypox isn’t rare.
This disease is disproportionately
harming
queer
communities
across the United States. It’s
spreading so rapidly that the
health infrastructure of major
US cities such as New York City,
Chicago and San Francisco have
completely failed to keep up with
testing, vaccination and treatment.
What’s worse, many clinics lack
the capacity to test for the disease,
so it’s likely that cases are vastly
underreported. While a vaccine
for monkeypox does exist, demand
greatly
exceeds
the
federal
supply. Monkeypox is spreading
throughout Michigan, and without
intervention, it will affect our
community soon. Only hubris could
lead us to believe otherwise. While
we may be collectively exhausted
from COVID-19, we must not allow
exhaustion to morph into apathy
for the queer community and other
medically vulnerable populations.
There
is
good
news:
We
know how to slow this virus. By
combining
mass
vaccination,
the use of antivirals and the
implementation of common-sense
community health measures (e.g.,
testing and tracing), we can stop
monkeypox before it takes hold in
our communities. But we cannot
do this on our own. We’ll need the
University of Michigan to work
with state and federal politicians
to secure vaccines. We’ll need
U-M leaders to disseminate clear
and decisive communication about
this disease’s symptoms. We’ll
need the University to work with
community leaders to ensure that
our public health response is fair
and equitable. We need bold and
decisive public health leadership,
and we need it today.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Read more at michigandaily.com
JOSH PETERSEN
Op-Ed
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUMMER EDITORIAL BOARD