Drop dead or we’ll kill you

Representatives of Catholic colleges voiced disappointment in a new federal rule finalizing the requirement to include student health plans in a controversial new contraception mandate.

Patrick J. Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, said the mandate will undermine the efforts of every Catholic family that “chooses a Catholic college to ensure an appropriate Christian environment for their daughter.”

Reilly told CNA on March 19 that the requirement violates religious freedom and would helping to “supply promiscuous college students.” Under the mandate, he explained, a college freshman girl will be able to arrange for a free “tubal ligation or an IUD or the abortion-causing drug Ella, covered without co-pay by the insurance plan offered by her Catholic institution.”

On March 16, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule on student health plans under the health care reform law. The regulation will require colleges to treat student health plans like employee plans, making them subject to the administration’s contraception mandate.