Belmont Abbey College in hot water for daring not to pay for contraception

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in its great wisdom, has determined that Belmont Abbey College discriminated against women when it changed a policy that had previously allowed women to have oral contraception covered by the College's medical plan.

This is discrimination against women, the EEOC says, because only women take oral contraception. Never mind the fact that Belmont Abbey also doesn't pay for male prophylactics (I presume). I guess a group of men haven't filed that suit yet.

It's interesting that Belmont Abbey College, in the policy change I mention above, also ceased paying for voluntary sterilization and abortion. I wonder if the EEOC will next say that excluding abortion as a medical "benefit" equals discrimination as well?

If Belmont Abbey College doesn't re-instate the oral contraception coverage, they could face further legal action from the EEOC. So they could use some prayers, and some free legal advice.

Just another day in the life of an institution trying to be Catholic in the United States....

update - the Cardinal Newman Society has this on their radar:

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has ruled that a small Catholic college must include coverage for artificial contraceptives in its employee health insurance plan, raising new concerns about the need for conscience protections and religious exemptions in America’s health care policies.

The Cardinal Newman Society (CNS) today sent a letter to EEOC acting chairman Stuart Ishimaru, noting that “it is ironic that the federal agency responsible for protecting against discrimination has so blatantly engaged in an inexcusable violation of religious liberty in its Belmont Abbey ruling.”

CNS also is sending a letter to all Catholic bishops in the United States, informing them of the EEOC action against Belmont Abbey College and highlighting the dangerous precedent this ruling sets to force Catholic employers to include contraceptive coverage in employee health plans.

update 2: Patrick Reilly, President of the Cardinal Newman Society, has an op-ed on this ruling against Belmont Abbey College in the Wall Street Journal.