WHEATON, Ill. (AP) — Wheaton College in suburban Chicago says it will stop offering health insurance plans to students to avoid providing birth control coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act.
The Christian liberal arts college announced the decision July 10 that ends health coverage for roughly a quarter of its 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It will stop offering plans Friday.
Wheaton’s student development vice president Paul Chelsen told students during a July 23 information session that the school will provide hardship funding for some students losing insurance. He said the school is trying to protect a lawsuit it has against the Department of Health and Human Services.
Chelsen said protecting the case is important because the government is telling the school it has to offer something it finds “morally objectionable.”