Sawina Ruth Eller.

CM 331 C1.

16 December 1993.

Major Article: Abortion: Who Should Pay?

Northeastern University recently decided to include abortion coverage in its group health insurance for students. Northeastern’s new policy, which was added because of a review spurred by student requests, is part of growing trend among colleges and universities throughout New England, and possibly the entire country. What made Northeastern’s decision so significant was the publicity it generated.

Many of the college students and even one administrator that I talked to were aware of Northeastern University’s decision even though they did not even know their own school’s policy regarding abortion coverage. Often, however, schools intentionally do not publicize their group health insurance coverage for abortions for various reasons.

Reaction to Northeastern University’s decision has been intense, both within Northeastern University and throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Northeastern University student government president Kate Zydlertold one reporter, “The abortion coverage] is what a college or university in the 1990s should be offering.”

However, other N.U. students were not so supportive of the school’s decision. Graduate student and former Northeastern Students for Life president Tina Cardinale told the Boston Herald, “I object to it for the simple fact that I consider it murder. Why should that be covered by insurance?”

Rachel Tanenhaus, a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said, “I think it’s important for people to have all reproductive options available, not just the people who can afford it.”

Reproductive Free Mass Choice (a branch of the National Abortion Rights Action League) Development Director and Wellesley College alumna Tia Tilson agreed, saying abortion is “part of a woman’s reproductive health. If it’s a comprehensive policy, it needs to include abortion. You can’t divide a woman’s body into parts.”

However, reaction outside Northeastern has also been mixed. Feminists for Life Spokesperson Kelly Jefferson, who opposes abortion because many women who have abortions feel forced into it commented, “I’m awfully glad I’m not a Northeastern student who’s being forced to pay for it.”

Actually, many people felt that the idea of making all students pay for such a controversial service is unfair, especially since health insurance coverage is mandatory for college students in Massachusetts. Sister Mary Sweeney of Boston University’s Newman House said, “Anyone who holds a pro-life position may be disturbed and offended when money from a common fund is allocated for abortion. The money used to procure the abortion comes, in part, from the pockets and pocketbooks of pro-lifers, thus making them feel that they are helping to fund an act which they find to be morally offensive. Some students have also questioned whether abortion is part of ‘normal reproductive health care for women.’”

Many colleges and universities have already included abortion in their group health insurance policies for students. Often, students are unaware that such coverage exists. This lack of knowledge is not accidental; one well-known Massachusetts women’s college requested strict anonymity because they offer abortion coverage but do not want this publicized. In fact, out of the six private colleges I surveyed, only one did not offer abortion coverage in its group health insurance. (Because of other issues involved in selecting group health insurance policies for their students, state schools are not allowed to include abortion coverage in student health insurance.).

Reasons given for offering abortion coverage ranged from vague statements --- Northeastern University said, “It was a university policy decision” --- to specific concerns pertaining to the student body --- the women’s college said it offered coverage for abortion and related services because they are women’s issues and health issues.

The one college that did not offer abortion coverage, Boston College, cited “moral values” as the reason coverage is not offered. (Boston College is affiliated with the Jesuit Order of the Roman Catholic Church.).

All of the colleges I surveyed do offer confidential pregnancy tests through student health services, although only the women’s college and Boston College indicated that they offer any counseling with the tests.

The schools that offer abortion coverage refer students to outside clinics for such services. One employee at Boston University’s Student Health Services explained, “We do primary care. We refer people out for any specialties, whether that’s for an abortion or for an EKG.”

Student reaction to school policy regarding abortion coverage was mixed. John Miyahara, a theology student at Boston University, supported his school’s policy: “I think it is a good decision because I don’t think it is kind or humane to bring a child into the world that is not wanted or properly cared for.”

Although Laura, a senior at Boston College, feels abortion is completely up to the woman who is pregnant, she supports her school’s position on abortion coverage. “They do not like to talk about it and that is understandable because [Boston College] is a Jesuit university. They have a right to make that decision.”

Boston University junior and Students for Life Vice-President Susan Bowes is not happy with her school’s policy. “It’s a shame that they cover abortion. It’s not a health issue. Health care should cover medical diseases, and a disease is something you unwillingly acquire. Pregnancy is more a condition you know might occur when you have sex.”

Because Northeastern University’s policy change resulted from student pressure to include the coverage, such changes could be part of a growing trend among private colleges and universities throughout the nation.

Susan Cieutat, a Northeastern law student who was instrumental in for changing her school’s policy toward abortion coverage, told one student newspaper, “Competition between insurance companies will lead them to supply this coverage until maybe every plan will have abortion coverage.”

Mass Choice Spokesperson Tia Tilson is not quite so optimistic: “I think if pro-choice and women’s health groups advocate it, I think students could work to get it included. There might be a difference between private schools and public schools in that the process and debate might be more loaded and charged for a public school.”

Rachel Tanenhaus, who attends a state university, has similar sentiments. “I think U.Mass has so many problems right now with its finances and its health system,” she explained, “that’s really not its priority, unfortunately.”

Feminists for Life Spokesperson Kelly Jefferson disagrees that Northeastern’s decision could be part of a trend. “If a college were more likely to change it for [that reason], they would have already covered it.”

In fact, most private colleges already have some sort of abortion coverage, whether it is total, as is the case with Harvard University and MIT, or partial, as is the case with most of the other schools.

Religious private colleges, however, are in a different situation. Laura did not believe her school would ever add abortion coverage to student health insurance. “The Roman Catholic Church has a strong tradition of respect for human life and has expressed, in a variety of ways, its concern for life in the womb,” Boston University Chaplain Sister Mary Sweeney explained.

In the Boston College Student Guide, the University Health Services state, “Because of the moral values that Boston College espouses, University Health Services, by policy, do not provide . . . procedures or counsel that would encourage abortion.”

Nonetheless, it will be very interesting to see what kind of policy changes lie in the future for state colleges, as well as the whole country, as health insurance providers begin to add abortion coverage in response to policy holders’ demands. This situation has special significance with universal health insurance coverage’s imminent possibility of becoming reality.