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