Notre Dame drops abortifacient, contraceptive coverage
University Notre Dame employees will not continue receive free abortifacients and contraceptives under the university’s health insurance plan, despite an earlier message to its employees stating it would retain the coverage, according an email from The Sycamore Trust.
Notre Dame sued the Obama administration in 2013, arguing that the mandate infringed on its religious liberty. While many other Catholic colleges and institutions found some success in the courts, the district judge in Notre Dame’s case was skeptical about Notre Dame’s sincerity.
Since then, Notre Dame students and employees were covered by health plans which offered abortifacients and contraceptives free of charge. But earlier this month the Trump administration granted widespread exemptions to religious institutions from the mandate.
The Sycamore Trust, an association of alumni and other concerned for Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, commented on the university’s decision in a statement.
“The university provides no explanation for changing its mind so late in the day, but it seems reasonable to infer that opposition from some quarters expressed and anticipated was a factor,” The Sycamore Trust said in an Oct. 27 email update.
Georgetown may defund pro-marriage student group
The student group Love Saxa, which promotes and celebrates authentically loving relationships and the importance of marriage and family at Georgetown University, may lose its funding for its defense of Church teaching on marriage, according to LifeSiteNews.com.
A student, as well as the presidents of GU Pride and Georgetown University Queer People of Color, logged an official complaint about the group. The Hoya, Georgetown’s student newspaper, called for Love Saxa to be defunded, saying it “fosters intolerance” and is, therefore, “antithetical to what a university club should be.”
“These student activists have been emboldened by decades of dissent at Georgetown to take a drastic stand, in open hatred for the Church’s teaching,” Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, told LifeSiteNews. “It is a test of what remains of Georgetown’s Catholic identity. An authentic Catholic university must be able to support a club promoting marriage and healthy sexuality.”
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