Washington D.C., Aug 20, 2009 / 16:02 pm
Students at Catholic universities, citing religious freedom concerns, have voiced their opposition to a federal ruling that Belmont Abbey College engaged in unlawful discrimination by refusing to fund contraceptives in its health care plan.
After a faculty member discovered that contraception, abortion and voluntary sterilization were covered by the North Carolina college’s health care policy, the drugs and procedures were removed from the plan in December 2007.
Some faculty opposed the move and appealed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Though the EEOC ruled in the college administration’s favor in March, it reversed its decision on August 5.
On that day Reuben Daniels Jr., Director of the EEOC Charlotte District Office, ruled that the health care policy change was discriminatory because only women take oral contraceptives.