Catholic College Drops Contraceptive Coverage From Medical Plan

By way of Feministing comes this article in the Gaston Gazette, a daily newspaper out of Gastonia, N.C., about the decision of Belmont Abbey College, a small Catholic college in Belmont, N.C., to drop contraceptive coverage from its faculty health-care policy:

Birth control was once available to Belmont Abbey College faculty under its previous health-care policy.

Contraception, abortion, and voluntary sterilization came off that policy in December after a faculty member discovered that coverage, according to an e-mail Belmont Abbey College President Bill Thierfelder sent to school staff, students, alumni, and friends of the college and obtained by The Gazette.

Those procedures were immediately removed from the policy when discovered, Thierfelder wrote.

“As Abbot Placid (Solari) made clear, it is the clear, consistent, incontrovertible, public, official, and authoritative teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that abortion, contraception, and voluntary sterilization are actions which are intrinsically wrong and should not be undertaken because of their very nature,” Thierfelder wrote. “As a Roman Catholic institution, Belmont Abbey College is not able to and will not offer nor subsidize medical services that contradict the clear teaching of the Catholic Church.”

In response, a number of professors have filed formal complaints with the State Department of Insurance and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to have the coverage reinstated, charging that state law requires insurers who offer prescription-drug coverage to also cover contraceptives, the reporter, Amanda Millard, writes.