Father Graham, S.J. announced that Xavier University will cease to provide its employees with birth control under the University’s insurance policy after July 1. The decision has come after Barack Obama’s latest health care reform requiring non-profit religious organizations to provide their employees with birth control coverage. Contraception is forbidden in the Catholic Church, and, after reviewing
Obama’s new law, Fr. Graham saw it necessary to redress the University’s insurance policies on birth control. “The University’s insurance carrier will no longer cover sterilizations and contraceptives for employees as of July 1,” Father Graham said in an email announcement on April 2.
Fr. Graham’s decision has come under scrutiny from many people associated with Xavier University and has prompted Xavier University alumnus Catherine Tolle to create a petition
for Fr. Graham to reverse his decision. “This drastic policy change places an enormous burden on female staff,
faculty and students who are now unable to access basic
healthcare needs through their current insurance plans,” the
petition letter reads. The petition, which currently has 802 signatures, says that Xavier University’s policy change “is
nothing more than playing politics with the lives and
health of women.”