Wheaton College has announced that it will no longer provide health insurance to students. The decision by the Evangelical Protestant institution in the Chicago area was framed as a stand against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's mandate that insurance policies cover birth control.
Currently, the college provides insurance for a quarter of its 3,000 students, reports the Chicago Tribune. The college will not end the coverage it provides to its employees.
Wheaton has been one of a number of Christian organizations or Christian-run businesses, most notably retail giant Hobby Lobby, that have argued that the contraception mandate violates freedom of conscience. Although the college, like many Protestant institutions, does not object to all forms of birth control, it rejects certain types of contraception that it considers to be abortion, such as the morning-after-pill and intrauterine devices.
Addressing the decision in an online discussion with Wheaton students, Paul Chelsen, Wheaton's vice president of student development, said the move was tragic but necessary to defend religious freedom.
"What really breaks my heart is that there are real people that are affected by our decision,” said Chelsen in a recording of the discussion acquired by the Tribune. “But if we don't win this case, the implications down the road in terms of what the government will tell us what we can and cannot do will be potentially more significant."
While a provision in the law allows for groups opposed to birth control to opt out of providing the benefit if they allow the insurer to provide the coverage directly, Wheaton objected to a requirement that it notify the government of its objections. It should not have to apply to enter into another legal framework, the school argued. A lawyer for Wheaton told the Tribune that the college does not want any part of an insurance plan that would provide services it finds morally reprehensible.
Surveys have shown that most Americans support requiring insurance policies to cover the full cost of birth control.
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