{"id":939,"date":"2008-12-12T13:09:27","date_gmt":"2008-12-12T13:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/usf-and-abortion-coverage.html"},"modified":"2008-12-12T13:09:27","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T13:09:27","slug":"usf-and-abortion-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/usf-and-abortion-coverage.html","title":{"rendered":"USF and Abortion Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s been a lot of discussion about the Jesuit-run U of San Francisco’s\u00a0 student health coverage plan over the past few days.
\nThe Catholic Key blog gives essential background information:<\/a><\/p>\n

Several blogs and news sites have been reporting on information brought to light on The Catholic Key Blog<\/a> that the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco includes elective abortion coverage in its mandatory Student Health Insurance Program through Aetna Insurance.
\nThis post is intended to provide some historical context and additional information about USF’s longer-term provision of abortion referrals and insurance.
\n1. Is abortion coverage mandated in California?<\/em> No.<\/strong>
\nIn 2000, the California Legislature passed the Women’s Contraceptive Equity Act which required that all health plans which include a prescription drug benefit must also provide contraceptive coverage. The act did not<\/em> include abortion coverage and it did<\/em> provide an exemption for religious employers.
\nSubsequently, in a highly publicized 2004 case, the California Supreme Court required Catholic Charities agencies in California to comply with the WCEA and provide contraceptive coverage to its employees. The court reasoned that Catholic Charities did not qualify for an exemption because it was not a “religious employer”. In adopting a very narrow interpretation of what constituted a religious employer, the Court may have opened the doors to requiring other religious organizations which are not strictly churches to provide contraceptive coverage. The Court’s definition of what constitutes a religious employer may very well exclude the University of San Francisco and other Catholic universities and schools.
\nTo my knowledge that has not been tested, but it is a moot point, because neither the legislature nor the Court require abortion coverage in any<\/em> private health plan – religious or non-religious.
\n2. Aren’t these plans standardized? Isn’t abortion coverage automatic?<\/em> No.<\/strong>
\nReligious employers in California and elsewhere have followed with keen interest developments in law with regard to mandated benefits. That is because many of them in good conscience do not want to provide certain types of coverage and do not currently provide certain types of coverage.
\nInsurance providers tailor-fit health plans, within the bounds of local law, to the needs of clients. These needs may be financial or moral. Some employers provide levels of coverage higher or lower than others and some exclude various types of coverage for various reasons.
\nThe Archdiocese of San Francisco, dioceses across the United States and other Catholic institutions do not provide abortion coverage for obvious reasons. Insurance administrators accommodate this.
\nFor instance, Aetna, which provides the Student Health Insurance Plan at USF, also provides the Student Health Insurance Plan at Jesuit-run University of Seattle. At USF, Aetna’s plan specifically includes<\/em> abortion coverage. At Seattle University, Aetna’s plan specifically excludes<\/em> abortion coverage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MORE<\/a>
\nUPDATE<\/span>
\nAccording to OSV’s John Norton, the coverage has been dropped.<\/a><\/p>\n

After being alerted that new student health coverage provides for abortions<\/a>, the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco has pulled that provision. Here’s a statement we just received from Gary McDonald, the associate vice president for communications and public affairs of the University of San Francisco:
\nA new health plan for students at the University of San Francisco included a provision for the voluntary termination of pregnancy. It was not the University’s intention to offer this coverage. USF supports the Catholic Church’s views on the sanctity of life, at all stages, and we will remove this provision from our student healthplan. We regret this mistake, and we take full responsibility for not adequately reviewing the contract. We are grateful to those who brought this issue to our attention.<\/em>
\nGary McDonald
\nAVP, Communications and Public Affairs
\nUniversity of San Francisco<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More, including questions about employee coverage, at the Catholic Key blog.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The Catholic Key blog gives essential background information: Several blogs and news sites have been reporting on information brought to light on The Catholic Key Blog that the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nUSF and Abortion Coverage - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/12\/usf-and-abortion-coverage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USF and Abortion Coverage - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There’s been a lot of discussion about the Jesuit-run U of San Francisco’s\u00a0 student health coverage plan over the past few days. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}