“The University of Notre Dame honors the moral teachings of the Catholic Church,” the University Health Services director wrote to students in an email last week. “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 its religious beliefs.”
Under Obamacare, insurance plans had to cover contraception for women without charging a co-pay. Over 55 million American women have had access to birth control coverage with zero out-of-pocket costs, according to the National Women’s Law Center.
A fairly limited number of employers — mainly churches and some other religious entities — could get an exemption to the mandate. Some other employers, such as religious-based universities or hospitals, could seek accommodations so that they didn’t have to provide coverage, but their workers could still obtain contraceptives paid for by the insurer or the employer’s plan administrator. Notre Dame’s students and workers received coverage this way.
The Trump administration, however, issued new rules last month that would let a broad range of employers stop offering contraceptive coverage through their health insurance plans if they have a “sincerely held religious or moral objection.”
Notre Dame is one of the first employers to take advantage of the increased leeway. Its president, Rev. John Jenkins, applauded the administration’s decision last month, saying “no one should be forced to choose between living out his or her faith and complying with the law.”
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