Contraception policy irks religious colleges

Women from religious colleges in North Carolina are caught in the middle of a national debate between religion and gender rights.

Recent advancements in President Barack Obama’s policy requiring religious colleges to provide free contraceptive coverage for employees have re-sparked debate among those affected.

Some religious colleges, including Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, have sworn to stand by their religious conviction against contraceptives.

Belmont Abbey, a Catholic college, is suing the government in federal courts through 12 legal challenges. These range from claims of First Amendment infringements to violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The policy requires certain religiously affiliated institutions, like universities and hospitals, to provide employees with health plans that cover Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives.

Religious institutions, like churches, synagogues and mosques, are exempt, but colleges, even if they are religiously affiliated, are not exempt.

While Obama altered the policy Friday so that health insurance companies, not employers, would provide the contraceptives free of charge, many employers and employees of religiously affiliated institutions feel the act is a direct violation of their religious freedom.

The current national debate has centered itself on employee health care, while the fate of health care plans for university students is still uncertain.

Emily Hardman, spokeswoman for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a legal institute that represents Belmont Abbey, said Obama’s recent policy changes are a false compromise.

“The law of the land is still in conflict with the religious right of thousands of individuals who have conscious objections to this mandate,” she said. “All we are seeking is the religious exemption that has always existed in law. Right now the exemption is so narrow that not even Jesus’ ministry would qualify.”

Although institutions that violate the law will have to pay a monetary penalty per employee, Hardman said Belmont Abbey will not compromise and will close its doors before providing a health service it finds immoral.

Donna Ellington, a professor of history at Gardner-Webb University, a Baptist-related college in North Carolina, said in an email that a compromise still would make private institutions pay to violate their morality.

“Anyone in society who wants these things can still acquire them, but no one morally opposed should be forced to pay for them,” Ellington said.

But a recent graduate of Gardner-Webb, Collyn Warner, said many women don’t have access to affordable contraception.

She said the controversy is not about religious freedom but public health.

Warner said many religious colleges are not considering rural areas in the U.S. where a religious hospital might be the only available health care facility or that some women have needs for birth control outside of preventing pregnancy.

“You can’t assume all students who go to one university, or work for the same company, or subscribe to the same religion will share the same perspective on contraception,” she said.

Despite varied opinions on whether the debate should focus on religious freedom or public health, many of the women agreed that more female perspectives should be heard in the debate.

Olivia Teague, a student at Gardner-Webb, supports her university’s decision to not provide contraceptives, but she said more women need to be involved on the federal level.

“I don’t feel like men alone, even if they are women’s health care professionals, can or should be able to make decisions about women’s health without major input from women,” she said.

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