Pipeline Programs in the Health Professions, Part 2: The Impact of Recent Legal Challenges to Affirmative Action

: Affirmative action is an essential legal means to ensure the diversity-related educational programs in the health profession educational programs. Anti-affirmative action legislation and state-sponsored antiaffirmative voter initiatives have the potential to limit the number of underrepresented minorities in the health professions and create even greater opportunity gaps and educational disparities.Therefore, we must shift the paradigm and reframe the dialogue involving affirmative action and move from debate to a collaborative discussion in order to address the historical and contemporary disparities that make affirmative action necessary today.