Watch: US University students walk out as anti-abortion doctor delivers keynote address

After an anti-abortion doctor spoke as the event's keynote speaker on Sunday at the University of Michigan Medical School's White Coat Ceremony, students staged a walkout. As soon as Dr. Kristin Collier starts speaking, a video of students leaving the ceremony quickly became viral on social media. In a formal ceremony known as the "White Coat Ceremony," students are given white coats to symbolise their admission into the medical profession.

The clip shared by a person under the username @PEScorpiio, on Twitter, was shared with the note, "Incoming medical students walk out at University of Michigan's white coat ceremony as the keynote speaker is openly anti-abortion." The video has received more than 5.5 million views, with more than 300k likes and more than 38,000 retweets at the time of writing this article

Over 340 students signed a petition protesting the choice of Dr. Kristin Collier as the keynote speaker for the White Coat Ceremony, therefore the student walkout was not unexpected.

The petition had been signed by 72 community members in addition to the incoming students, including residents, doctors, graduate students, and alumni from Michigan Medicine.

“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,” read the petition, according to a report by the Michigan Daily

The school's dean, Dr. Marschall Runge, reportedly refused to consent to withdrawing the invitation, citing the "essential necessity of variety of personal thought and ideas, which is foundational to academic freedom and quality," according to a story by National Review.