Cincinnati, Ohio, Apr 5, 2012 / 03:06 am
Xavier University president Fr. Michael J. Graham, S.J. has directed the Jesuit school to stop its health plan's insurance coverage of contraception and sterilization.
“As a Catholic priest and as president of a Catholic university, I have concluded that, absent a legal mandate, it is inconsistent for a Catholic institution to cover those drugs and procedures the Church opposes,” he said in an April 2 letter to members of the Xavier University community.
Fr. Graham said he reviewed the university’s policy amid controversy over the Obama administration's federal mandate requiring insurance coverage of contraception and sterilization under the new health care law.
The priest explained that the Catholic Church finds these drugs and procedures “morally problematic.” He has asked the university’s Office of Human Resources to work with Humana, the university’s insurance carrier, to no longer cover sterilizations and contraceptives “except for cases of medical necessity for non-contraceptive purposes.”