Under New York state law, all universities’ health plans must pay for student birth control. However, the law doesn’t take into account the fact that many Catholic universities refuse to prescribe birth control for their students, skirting the issue altogether. Because of the universities’ refusals, many college women are forced to visit Planned Parenthood or private doctors to get prescriptions, often giving up on birth control entirely when they cannot pay for private doctors.
Bridgette Dunlap, a Fordham University law student, discovered this discrepancy when she visited Fordham’s student health services to request birth control. Angered by the fact that her university would not prescribe contraception to students, Bridgette look action. Last November she organized a one-day, off-campus clinic staffed by volunteer doctors who were willing to write prescriptions to dozens of women.
And Bridgette isn’t the only one pushing for adequate birth control – President Obama is onboard as well. With new health care laws that will allow women to receive free birth control comes the necessity for colleges across the nation provide the services to acquire such pills. Most Catholic institutions are resisting this rule, citing religious reasons.
“We can’t just lie down and die and let religious freedom go,” said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to the New York Times.
So what do you think? Are the religious reasons cited by Catholic universities strong enough to support that fact many students on college campuses lack adequate birth control methods? This issue, along with many others, is sure to be of great importance in the Republican candidates’ race for the presidency as well as the decisions made by the Obama Administration.