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After reciting their oaths and receiving their white coats, hundreds of incoming students at the University of Michigan Medical School left the school's annual white coat ceremony to protest Dr. Kristin Collier, the ceremony's keynote speaker who has previously expressed anti-abortion views.
Prior to the ceremony, 248 current students, 100 incoming students and 72 others, including alumni, signed a petition demanding that the school choose a different speaker, citing numerous tweets and interviews in which Collier expressed her opposition to abortion.
The protest against Collier is the latest indication of a deep schism across the country in the weeks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that once protected a person's right to choose reproductive healthcare without excessive government restriction.
You can see the moment when the students walked out below.
\u201cIncoming medical students walk out at University of Michigan\u2019s white coat ceremony as the keynote speaker is openly anti-abortion\u201d— Scorpiio (@Scorpiio) 1658694164
According to Detroit resident Brendan Scorpio, who recorded the video during the ceremony he'd attended to support a friend in the incoming medical school class, about 35 to 40 percent of students walked out, followed by a number of their friends and family.
Speaking to NPR, Scorpio said that the "overall message that the students wanted to push was that reproductive rights, abortion, is health care," adding that reproductive rights "for anyone who is able to give birth are incredibly important and should be something that's allowed to everyone in the country."
The opposition to Collier's speech is not unfounded.
Collier, who has served on the school's faculty for 17 years, tweeted in May that she "can’t not lament the violence directed at my prenatal sisters in the act of abortion, done in the name of autonomy."
\u201cholding on to a view of feminism where one fights for the rights of all women and girls, especially those who are most vulnerable. I can\u2019t not lament the violence directed at my prenatal sisters in the act of abortion, done in the name of autonomy.\u201d— Kristin Collier (@Kristin Collier) 1651676138
Similarly, in an interview with the Catholic publication The Pillar, Collier described her evolution into "a pro-life person," saying that "it is good to be reminded that people can change their minds on beliefs they have held for a very long time, through a culture of encounter with others and ultimately through the grace of God."
Before beginning her speech, Collier appeared to nod to the nationwide controversy since Roe was overturned, telling students that she wanted "to acknowledge the deep wounds our community has suffered over the past several weeks."
She added:
"We have a great deal of work to do for healing to occur and I hope that for today, for this time, we can focus on what matters most, coming together to support our newly accepted students and their families with a goal of welcoming them into one of the greatest vocations that exists on this earth -- the vocation of medicine."
But many have expressed their solidarity with the students.
\u201c\u201cFirst, do no harm.\u201d\n\nWhat a powerful statement from medical students who understand their vow and agree that abortion is necessary medical care.\n\nhttps://t.co/czeZaAijSn\u201d— Shoshana Ungerleider, MD (@Shoshana Ungerleider, MD) 1658771382
\u201cI applaud the University of Michigan medical students who walked out of their white coat ceremony. Thank you for standing up for CHOICE!\u201d— Dr. Gillian Battino for Treasurer (@Dr. Gillian Battino for Treasurer) 1658774456
\u201cIt warms the cockles of my cynical heart to see something like this happen at my medical alma mater. (Yes, I graduated from @umichmedicine three decades ago.)\u201d— David Gorski, MD, PhD (@David Gorski, MD, PhD) 1658775397
\u201cUM chose a forced-birth-fascist to address their incoming medical students; many of whom walked out in protest\n\nI wholeheartedly applaud the courage it took for those students to do the right thing & I hope\u2013no matter what the system throws at them\u2013they never, ever lose it.\u201d— Matthew Cortland (@Matthew Cortland) 1658789098
\u201cGood for those who walked out. They are the types of doctors I\u2019d like to go to.\u201d— LLL (@LLL) 1658802004
\u201cThere's no form of effective protest that will be considered appropriate in the eyes of those who think there's no good reason to protest.\u201d— Dr. Mansa Keita (@Dr. Mansa Keita) 1658766895
\u201cAll my respect to these med students! White coat ceremony is a big deal where families attend to celebrate the new students so for them to walk out of their own ceremony to stand up for abortion is just amazing to me.\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffc\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udffc\u201d— \ud83c\udd3c\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd3d\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd45\ud83c\udd30\ud83c\udd3d\u2022\ud83c\udd3c\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd3b\ud83c\udd35 (@\ud83c\udd3c\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd3d\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd45\ud83c\udd30\ud83c\udd3d\u2022\ud83c\udd3c\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd3b\ud83c\udd35) 1658783231
\u201cThese University of Michigan med students walked out of a day they\u2019ve worked their whole lives for because they understand the vow to \u201cfirst, do no harm.\u201d Abortion is necessary medical care.\u201d— Mallory McMorrow (@Mallory McMorrow) 1658756212
\u201cGood on you, future docs!\u201d— Josh McGough MD (@Josh McGough MD) 1658761980
Students later issued a statement explaining why they had walked out, saying that they "saw an opportunity to utilize our position as future physicians to advocate for and stand in solidarity with individuals whose rights to bodily autonomy and medical care are endangered."
The school, however, has decried the protest, saying that "The White Coat Ceremony is not a platform for discussion of controversial issues." The school added that the ceremony's "focus will always be on welcoming students into the profession of medicine" and that "the University of Michigan does not revoke an invitation to a speaker based on their personal beliefs."
The school concluded that it remains "committed to providing high quality, safe reproductive care for patients, across all their reproductive health needs," which "includes abortion care."