I’m actually a little surprised it took the University of Notre Dame a whole three weeks to rescind birth control coverage for its students, faculty, and staff after the Trump administration officially rolled back the contraceptive mandate on October 6
The Catholic university was a vociferous critic of the Obama-era mandate, taking the issue to the Seventh US Circuit of Appeals in Chicago in 2015 (to the court’s general befuddlement). For years, the Catholic institution complained that its religious rights were being violated just because the school had to fill out a form declaring its objection as a religious nonprofit to covering brith control directly. Under Obama-era rules, once a religious nonprofit opted out of providing birth control for its employees, the insurers would cover it directly. Since Trump’s roll-back of the mandate, third-party coverage is no longer required in such a scenario.
Notre Dame will cease to cover contraceptives for employees on December 31, while students, whose insurance deadlines are dictated by the academic calendar, will be covered through August 14, CNN reports. Vox reports that the university plan currently covers ninety percent of employees and 3,020 undergraduate and graduate students.
Notre Dame explained its “reasoning” in an email sent to students on Friday: “The University of Notre Dame honors the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. To comply with federal law, Aetna Student Health has provided coverage, separate from University coverage, for additional women’s health products or procedures that the University objects to based on it religious beliefs.”
