After announcing last week plans to stop offering birth control as part of its health insurance plans, WNDU reports the University of Notre Dame has announced that it will now allow no-cost contraceptive coverage to be available to employees via a plan that is funded and administered independently of the university.
President Trump recently rolled back an Affordable Care Act rule that required employers to offer birth control coverage. The University had previously announced coverage would end at the university due to that rollback, a move that prompted several advocacy groups to file a federal lawsuit challenging the rule change. The lawsuit included three University of Notre Dame students.
Today’s change will have contraceptives available through a third party, Meridian Health/OptumRx.
“The University of Notre Dame, as a Catholic institution, follows Catholic teaching about the use of contraceptives and engaged in the recent lawsuit to protect its freedom to act in accord with its principles,” the university said in an email to employees. “Recognizing, however, the plurality of religious and other convictions among its employees, it will not interfere with the provision of contraceptives that will be administered and funded independently of the University.