MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In a story May 23 about student activists at the University of Minnesota trying to reinstate a medical school fellowship in reproductive health, The Associated Press, relying on information from the Minnesota Daily, erroneously reported that fellows would have worked at Planned Parenthood after the fellowship ended. They would have worked there during the fellowship.
A corrected version of the story is below:
University delays fellowship amid abortion controversy
The University of Minnesota has backed away from a medical school fellowship in reproductive health care training that included abortion procedures following opposition from anti-abortion groups
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The University of Minnesota has backed away from a medical school fellowship in reproductive health care training that included abortion procedures following opposition from anti-abortion groups.
The university took down the fellowship posting this month. The program was scheduled to begin in the fall, Minnesota Daily reported.
The Reproductive Health Access Project would’ve funded the fellowship, said Lisa Maldonado, RHAP’s executive director. Fellows would have worked at Planned Parenthood in St. Paul and then been encouraged to remain in reproductive health care after completing the fellowship.
Opposition to the fellowship began after an article was published earlier this month in Campus Reform, a conservative higher education news source, according to a university spokesman.
An anti-abortion advocacy group called Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life contacted the university’s president, Eric Kaler, and state legislators to express concern about the fellowship after the article’s publishing. The group said it was concerned the fellowship would promote abortions.
Some students also took issue with the fellowship.
“It’s egregious . to think . our tuition dollars would be complicit with this, what we see as a very grave injustice,” said Noah Maldonado, president of anti-abortion student group Bulldog Students for Life at University of Minnesota Duluth.
The university has delayed the fellowship for a year so officials can examine the value of the training, said Jakub Tolar, dean of the medical school.
“In the future, we will have a more robust and comprehensive review process for positions and training programs to ensure proper due diligence and proper notification to stakeholders,” Tolar said in a letter to Republican Sen. Michelle Fischbach, of Paynesville.