 After the general election in November 1982, the incoming Michigan governor, James Blanchard, appointed Mansour in December to the directorship of the Michigan Department of Social Services (DSS); Michigan's biggest agency. The administrative position involved oversight of public health programs including disbursement of some $ 5 million in federal monies from Medicaid for abortions. To accept the appointment, she asked for and received permission from her order and from Szoka. Szoka asked Mansour to publicly state her opposition to abortion; he said he originally gave his approval on this condition. Mansour did not follow his request. Though she personally disapproved of abortion, she knew that many others felt differently, and she determined that the poor should have equal access to abortion as long as it was legal.
