Viral Video: US students' walkout over anti-abortion views amid doc's speech

More than 340 students and 72 other community members had signed a petition against the keynote speaker after she shared some anti-abortion views on social media platforms.

Published on: Jul 25, 2022, 17:13:13 IST

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Dozens of students of the University of Michigan Medical School in the United States staged a walkout during an anti-abortion speaker's keynote address during the school's white coat ceremony. A video went viral showing students walking out of the auditorium as soon as Dr Kristin Collier started speaking.

Screengrab from viral video during the white coat ceremony at University of Michigan. ( Twitter)

According to US news network, Fox News, the students staged a walkout after a previous petition to get the speaker removed failed. Students had reportedly protested against the keynote speaker after she shared some anti-abortion views on social media platforms.

Subsequently, more students walked out of the event when a pro-life assistant professor of medicine at UMMS, took to the stage to address the new students at their White Coat Ceremony.

A video captured at the event showed as students left their seats and headed for the auditorium doors. The video, which quickly went viral, has garnered more than 327,300 likes and 38,500 retweets so far.

Watch:

The white coat ceremony is a formal event for students to mark their entry into the field of medicine.

More than 340 students had signed the petition, according to reports. Additionally, as many as 72 community members – including Michigan Medicine residents, physicians, graduate students and alumni – had also signed the petition.

“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 read, as quoted by The Michigan Daily.

“U-M Health remains committed to providing high-quality, safe reproductive care for patients, across all their reproductive health needs… This includes abortion care, which remains legal in Michigan while challenges to various state-law criminal statutes continue to proceed,” read a statement by the college released after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June this year.

Although abortion is now restricted in several American states, even the most stringent bans on abortion have allowed exceptions when the health of a mother is at risk, though the threat of prosecution has created confusion for some doctors.

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