Pro-life students enrolled in the University of North Carolina system now have the option of joining a separate health insurance pool to ensure their premiums won’t cover elective abortions for their fellow students.
But even though they’re receiving less coverage, pro-lifers will pay the same amount for the plan as other students, leading some to wonder whether the concession is meaningless.
“The new opted-out version of the plan that they say doesn’t go to fund abortion is the exact same price as the old plan,” said Sarah Hardin, president of North Carolina State University’s chapter of Students for Life.
Beginning this fall semester, students attending the UNC system’s 16 campuses are required to have health insurance — either through a third-party source or a university-provided plan. The insurance includes coverage for elective abortion (those deemed medically unnecessary), which has raised the hackles of pro-lifers.
As a concession, the UNC Board of Governors last week created an abortion opt-out. “Students who opt out of the elective abortion benefit will be under one policy grouping and students who do not opt out will be under a different grouping,” said UNC system spokeswoman Joni Worthington.
“Whenever a student files a claim, that claim will be compared against the benefits included in the student’s policy,” she said. “Utilization of this elective benefit will be paid from the premiums within the grouping of students who did not opt out.”
But opted-out students will pay the same in premiums — around $360 per semester — as those who receive the abortion coverage.
“That raises a huge red flag for me,” Hardin said.
The university system provides the coverage through the South Carolina firm Pearce & Pearce. The plan is like a traditional Preferred Provider Organization, with patients paying less for in-network providers.
If the UNC system insists on mandating coverage, abortion shouldn’t be in the standard plan, Hardin said. Instead, students should be allowed to opt in for abortion coverage. But she added that abortion shouldn’t be considered standard health care.
“It’s not health care for the pre-born child, it’s not health care for the mother,” she said. “It’s not quality health care.”
The national Students for Life group also is concerned. “We are not convinced that the money received from students who have chosen not to have abortion coverage will not be paying for other students’ abortions,” said communications director Mary Powers.
David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.