State Bureaucrats to Decide if Catholic Universities Can Drop Coverage for Elective Abortions

Two Catholic Universities in California announced they would cutfunding for elective abortions. Now the state Department of ManagedHealth Care is deciding whether all abortions can be consideredmedically necessary.

Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara universityboth announced last fall that they would drop coverage for mostabortions from their health plans. There was some controversy at thetime, with more liberal faculty criticizing the decision and moretraditional faculty embracing it. Both universities continue to offerplans covering medically necessary abortions, which is all that statelaw requires them to do.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the state is now consideringwhether it can reverse the decision by deciding that all abortions fallunder the rubric of medical necessity. The state did not object whenKaiser Permanente created an insurance plan which limited abortion tocases of necessity in 2012. A lawyer for Planned Parenthood tells the Chronicle her organization did not notice the insurance change at the time. They are one of the groups, along with the ACLU, pushing the state to reconsider the previous decision to allow such plans.

Facultyat Loyola who still wish to purchase coverage for elective abortionscan buy an unsubsidized add-on plan. The issue, as with the Hobby Lobbycase, is not whether coverage is available, only who is being asked topay for it.