Students, community members, 
politicians and activists gathered at 
the University of Michigan Diag for 
the “Bans Off Our Bodies” rally Sat-
urday afternoon to speak out against 
the potential overturning of Roe v. 
Wade. One of around 50 “Bans Off 
Our Bodies” rallies held Saturday, 
the protest was held in response 
to the leaked Supreme Court draft 
opinion on the pending Dobbs v. 
Jackson Women’s Health Organiza-
tion case. The decision, if finalized, 
would reverse 50 years of national 
legal precedent protecting the right 
to abortion with minimal govern-
ment interference and return the 
issue to individual states. 
In the state of Michigan, the over-
ruling of Roe v. Wade could mean the 
return to a 1931 law that banned all 
abortions unless to save the pregnant 
person’s life and made it a felony to 
perform one in other circumstances. 
Last month, Gov. Gretchen Whit-
mer filed a lawsuit asking the state 
Supreme Court to strike down this 
law under the Michigan Constitu-
tion’s Due Process and Equal Protec-
tion clauses. 

With signs reading “Protect safe, 
legal abortion,” “No forced birth” 
and “My uterus, my choice” in hand, 
attendees heard from various speak-
ers on the importance of protecting 
abortion access in Michigan and 
nationwide. The chants “Bans off 
our bodies” and “We support Roe” 
echoed around the Diag throughout 
the afternoon. 
Katie O’Connor, president of the 
Albion College chapter of Planned 
Parenthood 
Generation 
Action, 
expressed 
her 
disappointment 
regarding the potential overruling 
of Roe v. Wade, but told attendees 
she remains determined to fight to 
protect legal abortion. O’Connor 
emphasized that abortion remains 
legal in the state of Michigan since 
Roe v. Wade has not been officially 
overturned, and encouraged attend-
ees to continue advocating for abor-
tion access.
“I don’t have the words to 
describe the anger and hurt that I 
feel,” O’Connor said. “Abortion is 
still legal in Michigan, and it will not 
be attacked on our watch without a 
fight … This week confirms we’re fac-
ing the worst-case scenario, which 
would be disastrous for every person 
in our country. And that is why we 
are here today … people in every state 

across the country in their home-
towns, right this minute, (are) rising 
up to say ‘Bans off our bodies.’” 
Nicole Wells Stallworth, execu-
tive director for Planned Parenthood 
Advocates of Michigan, pointed out 
in her speech that a ban on legal abor-
tion will disproportionately affect 
low-income and minority groups. 
“The impact of overturning Roe 
would be largely felt by Black, Lati-
no, indigenous people, immigrants, 
people living with low incomes and 
in rural communities,” Stallworth 
said. “(These groups) have already 
long felt the impact of lack of access 
to abortion due to the social determi-
nants of health and discrimination 
that already exists in our healthcare 
and criminal justice systems.” 
Grey Stone, a board member of 
Planned Parenthood Generation 
Action at Eastern Michigan Uni-
versity, spoke to attendees on the 
importance of including transgender 
individuals in the conversation and 
using gender-inclusive language. 
“Using gender-inclusive language 
makes a great difference,” Stone said. 
“It opens up discussions in safe spac-
es to more people who are in bodily 
autonomy jeopardy. 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wednesday, August 31, 2022 — 3A

TINA YU
Daily Staff Reporter

News

Students, community members, politicians and activists gather in 
support of abortion access

‘Bans off our bodies’: Activists rally 
at the Diag in support of Roe v. Wade

CAMPUS LIFE

The University of Michigan 
announced in an April 27 Universi-
ty-wide email that starting May 2, 
masks would no longer be required 
in indoor spaces, including class-
rooms and campus transportation. 
This updated policy is applicable 
to all three U-M campuses and 
includes campus visitors, regardless 
of vaccination status. 
The Michigan Daily spoke to 
U-M students about their reac-
tions and opinions regarding this 
change. Some students said the 
spring semester seemed like the 
appropriate time to lift classroom 
mask requirements, given declining 
cases for the majority of April and 
decreased student presence on cam-
pus, but said they would personally 
remain masked while in class. 
Rising LSA sophomore Jenny 
Zhao said although she believes the 
updated mandate is reasonable, she 
will continue to wear a mask in the 
classroom out of health and safety 
concerns. 
“When I first heard about it, it 
did make sense because there (are) 
less students on campus, and classes 
will be smaller,” Zhao said. “I’m 
probably going to (keep) wearing 
my mask in classrooms just for safe-
ty concerns because I don’t want to 
get sick during the spring semester.” 
Rising LSA junior Aricka Crox-
ton said that while the timing of the 
new policy made sense, she believes 
a gradual change would have been a 
better approach. 
“I think it’s around the time it 
should happen, but I didn’t expect 
it to be so abrupt,” Croxton said. “I 
think the school should have just 
leaned into it more slowly.”
Croxton said the changes in the 
mask mandate did not affect her 
experiences while communicating 
with instructors and classmates in 

the classroom. 
“It’s kind of still the same,” Crox-
ton said. “I still interact with people 
the way I did before, and I don’t 
think the masks changed anything.” 
Rackham 
student 
Xiaosheng 
Guo is a Graduate Student Instruc-
tor for the spring semester. Guo said 
she believes the new mask mandate 
will not impact safety in lecture 
halls because the bigger classroom 
size allows students to maintain 
social distancing. 
“I have taught for two semesters 
that students have masks for the 
whole class,” said Guo. “I think for 
rooms that (are) large enough, and 
the students can sit separately… 
then it is okay that students don’t 
wear masks because in this way, you 
can still keep your social distance, 
and you don’t need to be that careful 
about getting (COVID-19) or other 
diseases.” 
However, Guo said she felt the 
University should adjust its policy 
for classes where students have to 
sit in closer proximity to each other. 
“In discussions, we prefer stu-
dents to work in groups and discuss 
with each other,” Guo said. “In that 
case, it’s hard to keep the social dis-
tance in the classroom. The Univer-
sity should think about more ways 
to actually prevent (COVID-19) 
from spreading.” 
Rising LSA sophomore Abhi 
Shuko said while he does not per-
sonally have an issue with the new 
mask policy, he believes it is impor-
tant to maintain mask requirements 
in spaces students cannot avoid, 
such as classrooms and transporta-
tion.
“Maybe I’d prefer to keep them 
in the classroom or areas where 
students have to be,” Shuko said. 
“In areas where you’re supposed to 
be for classes, you would want stu-
dents to always have masks because 
if someone doesn’t feel safe without 
masks, it’d be kind of an issue.”
Wearing a mask remains a 
requirement in patient care areas 

such as Michigan Medicine, Uni-
versity Health Service and the Den-
tal School clinical area. Those who 
have tested positive for COVID-19 
or have been exposed to the virus 
are also required to wear a mask 
while around other individuals dur-
ing the first 10 days of their isolation 
or self-monitoring period. 
According to the University, the 
new mask policy aligns with the 
COVID-19 community level guid-
ance from the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC). 
During the two weeks prior to the 
announcement of the updated mask 
mandate, COVID-19 cases on cam-
pus were declining, but they appear 
to be rising again in recent weeks. 
The University’s May 13 update to 
the Campus Blueprint COVID-19 
dashboard said the COVID-19 com-
munity level for Washtenaw Coun-
ty is now “high,” according to the 
CDC. While the University’s policy 
regarding mask requirements in 
indoor spaces remains unchanged, 
the University encourages commu-
nity members to take preventative 
measures such as getting vaccinat-
ed, receiving boosters if eligible and 
staying home if sick. 
Students also expressed con-
cerns regarding how the updated 
mask mandate will affect the cam-
pus community in August when 
students return to campus for the 
fall semester. Croxton said she 
believes it would be beneficial for 
the safety of community members 
if masks become required again 
in classrooms during the first few 
weeks of the fall semester. 
“I think (mask requirements in 
classrooms) would be the smart 
thing to do, at least for the first 
month or so, just in case somebody 
does come back with (COVID-19),” 
Croxton said.
The University has not yet 
announced its intended mask policy 
for the fall semester.
Daily Staff Reporter Tina Yu can 
be reached at tinapyyu@umich.edu.

TINA YU
Daily Staff Reporter

Students discuss mask no longer being required in 
indoor spaces

UMich community reacts to 
updated COVID-19 mask policy

CAMPUS LIFE

Read more at michigandaily.com

CHRISTINA MERRILL/Daily

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