 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

