If Medical Schools Choose To Platform Anti-Abortion Keynote Speakers They Should Expect Walkouts

A group of incoming medical students at the University of Michigan walked out of their White Coat Ceremony—which marks their entry into the medical profession—rather than choose to listen to the keynote speech from a staunchly anti-abortion doctor.

The event went viral after video was posted to Twitter this weekend, which currently has about nine million views.

Incoming medical students walk out at University of Michigan’s white coat ceremony as the keynote speaker is openly anti-abortion pic.twitter.com/Is7KmVV811

— Scorpiio (@PEScorpiio) July 24, 2022

The speaker the students refused to listen to is Dr. Kristin Collier, who is an assistant professor of the University of Michigan and the director of their Medical School Program on Health Spirituality & Religion. She’s posted multiple anti-abortion sentiments on Twitter, including calling abortion “redistributed” “oppression” and claiming abortion is anti-feminist because it is “violence directed at my prenatal sisters.” She’s spoken at length in interviews and speeches about her anti-abortion views.

All of those comments were referenced in a petition recently signed by more than 340 incoming and current U-M medical students, asking the university to choose a different keynote speaker. According to the petition, a recent (presumably informal) poll of incoming students found more than 90% of respondents “were strongly against or against having Dr. Collier as the speaker” and that 57% would consider not attending the ceremony if she remained the scheduled keynote speaker.

The petition is not dated but The Michigan Daily reported on its existence on Wednesday, July 20. Since the university refused to listen to the needs of its students, the walkout on Sunday should not have been a surprise.

“While we support the rights of freedom of speech and religion, an anti-choice speaker as a representative of the University of Michigan undermines the University’s position on abortion and supports the non-universal, theology-rooted platform to restrict abortion access, an essential part of medical care,” the petition reads. “This is not simply a disagreement on personal opinion; through our demand we are standing up in solidarity against groups who are trying to take away human rights and restrict medical care. We demand that UM stands in solidarity with us and selects a speaker whose values align with institutional policies, students, and the broader medical community. This speaker should inspire the next generation of healthcare providers to be courageous advocates for patient autonomy and our communities.”

These students should be proud of themselves for standing up for their convictions and prioritizing the needs of their future patients. Those are the kind of attitudes we all want from our medical providers.

Also, the war on abortion is, fundamentally, a war on doctors. The states passing these laws banning abortion specifically target medical providers as being subject to civil and criminal charges. Collier reportedly didn’t mention abortion in her speech Sunday but that’s not the point—the university made the decision to platform a woman who regularly espouses views that support those sorts of attacks on her peers. If medical schools are going to insist on booking speakers that proudly hold and share these dangerous views, they should not expect their students to stick around to listen to anything they might have to say.

(image: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)