S

ending contraceptives through 
the mail seems like a remnant 
of the early 20th century when 

methods of preventing pregnancy 
and sexually transmitted diseases 
were largely relegated to legally-
murky backchannels. But 86 years 
after Margaret Sanger’s shipment of 
diaphragms to a New York City doctor 
was confiscated, students at Catholic 
universities are using anonymous 
texting services and covertly mailed 
packages to circumvent their schools’ 
restrictions on sexual health products.

Colleges and universities provide 

health care and insurance to millions 
of young American students, but these 
health plans often do not adequately 
cover sexual health resources or 
services such as condoms and birth 
control. In addition to preventing 
pregnancy and disease, contraception 
has 
other, 
equally 
important 

applications. Women who suffer from 
endometriosis use hormonal birth 
control to control painful periods and 
prevent infertility. Hormonal birth 
control is also used to treat polycystic 
ovary Syndrome, primary ovarian 
insufficiency and acne.

With 
over 
19 
million 
students 

enrolled 
in 
higher 
education 

institutions, campus health centers 
and insurance plans are essential to 
the conversation surrounding their 
health care. By denying students 
access to contraceptives, Catholic 
universities make it difficult for 
students with medical conditions to 
receive care while also withholding 
the resources and tools that would 
encourage students to be safe during 
sexual activity. 

Health care payers in academia 

and the private sector refused to 
cover contraceptive care on religious 
grounds. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 
for example, successfully challenged 
the 
requirement 
that 
it 
cover 

contraception for employees under 
the Affordable Care Act before the 
Supreme Court on the grounds of its 
management’s religious objections. 
The larger tension evident in Burwell 
v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. — between 
the religious freedom of institutions 
and the right of Americans to have 
reproductive care covered by their 
insurance — also manifests itself in 
certain 
religious-affiliated 
college 

health care systems, particularly at 
Catholic universities. 

While not all students use their 

school’s health insurance, many, if 
not most, students use university 
health centers. At public universities, 
contraceptives 
are 
generally 

available 
at 
these 
university-run 

clinics. At colleges and universities 

with religious affiliations, this is 
often not the case. Some schools’ 
health centers, such as those at 
Fordham University and Georgetown 
University, only prescribe hormonal 
birth control for non-contraceptive 
uses. While controversial, providing 
contraceptives at Catholic universities 
isn’t 
entirely 
without 
precedent. 

The University of Notre Dame, for 
example, recently began allowing its 
health center to prescribe hormonal 
contraceptives for the purpose of 
preventing 
pregnancy 
despite 
a 

federal court ruling allowing it to be 
exempt from a U.S. Department of 
Health and Human Services mandate 
to supply contraception.

What 
happens 
when 
university 

health systems refuse to provide 
contraceptives 
or 
sexual 
health 

information — services that college 
students both want and need? At 
Boston College — a Jesuit institution 
in the leafy Boston suburb of Chestnut 
Hill, Mass. — friction has been growing 
between students and administrators 
over sexual health resources. This 
protracted 
enmity 
illustrates 
the 

tension between what providers want 
to offer and what Americans need — 
reflecting a bitter division that exists 
across the United States. 

Boston 
College’s 
University 

Health Services does not provide 
contraceptives since premarital sex 
is against the institution’s rules. 
Boston College’s Code of Student 
Conduct states that “incidents of 
sexual intercourse outside the bonds 

of matrimony may be referred to the 
Student 
Conduct 
System.” 
While 

this policy is not strictly enforced, 
its presence in the Code of Conduct 
is symbolic, demonstrating just how 
deeply Catholic beliefs about sexuality 
are embedded in the established 
principles of Boston College.

It seems unlikely that all students 

follow this policy, an assumption 
supported in a study conducted by 
Boston College alum Connor Kratz. 
He found that in 2018, 79.9 percent 
of students reported being sexually 
active during their tenure at the 
school.

Boston College Students for Sexual 

Health was founded in 2009 by Boston 

College 
students. 

After 89 percent of voting students 
approved a referendum asking for 
improved access to contraceptives 
and sexual health information, SSH 
was established to construct a peer-
to-peer 
network 
countering 
the 

administration’s refusal to take action. 
Notably, the group changed their 
name to Students for Sexual Health, 
excising their explicit affiliation with 
Boston College when the college’s 
administration threatened them with 
disciplinary action. 

SSH has faced significant opposition 

in their quest to provide condoms 
and other contraceptive devices to 
students, despite a 2018 non-binding 
referendum which found 94 percent 
of students in favor of accessible 
contraception. 
Furthermore, 
SSH 

initially ran so-called “safe sites” — 

places where students could obtain 
condoms and information — out of 
their dorm rooms until Boston College 
threatened disciplinary action. Now, 
SSH is turning to the postal service to 
distribute condoms.

Boston 
College 
junior 
Esteban 

Coellar, SSH acting president, said the 
group’s practice of mailing condoms 
to students is federally protected.

The Comstock Law, under which 

Margaret 
Sanger’s 
package 
was 

confiscated in 1932, prohibited the 
distribution of “obscene” materials 
such as condoms and sexual health 
information. A series of Supreme 
Court cases eventually found the law 
and others like it unconstitutional. 
This loophole is grudgingly accepted 
by the Boston College administration, 
though SSH hopes that one day 
these secretive and mecumbersome 
methods will not be necessary.

“Ultimately, our goal is to get to 

a place where University Health 
Services 
offers 
sexual 
health 

resources,” Coellar said. This year, 
they’re starting small and specific. 
“We’re trying to get UHS to provide 
Plan B to sexual assault victims.” 

Students 
at 
Vincentian-founded 

DePaul 
University 
— 
a 
Catholic 

institution in Chicago — are using 
similar methods.

DePaul University senior Jenni 

Holtz is the co-founder of Students 
for Reproductive Justice, a student-
run organization promoting sexual 
health at DePaul and in the Chicago 
community. 
They 
said 
grassroots 

efforts are important when students 
are 
asking 
for 
changes 
in 
the 

administration.

SRJ recently began running TxtJane, 

a confidential delivery service that 
began at Loyola University Chicago. 
Students can text a designated number 
and a member of SRJ will personally 
deliver contraceptives or pregnancy 
tests to a specified location. TxtJane 
was inspired by the Jane Collective, 
a clandestine network of women who 
provided abortions in Chicago during 
the four years prior to the Roe v. Wade 
decision.

“What’s important to us is to get 

resources to students even when the 
administration refuses to protect 
their students,” Holtz said. “Our 
efforts are also showing students 
what the university is not providing 
to them, so they can share in our 
anger and get involved in calling out 
the administration for their lack of 
care for students. We have been able 
to get resources to students without 
help from the university and we will 
continue to do so until DePaul does 
it.”

Wednesday, September 12, 2018// The Statement 
 
7B

On religious campuses, a birth control revolt

BY MIRIAM FRANCISCO, DAILY ARTS WRITER

File Photo/Daily

