“Mixing up morality and contractual obligations”

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University of San Francisco faculty leader threatens Jesuit school with legal action if abortion removed from insurance coverage, says USF “not a Catholic school”

The University of San Francisco, founded by the Jesuits in 1855, is no longer legally a “Catholic” institution and the faith is irrelevant when it comes to whether the school’s health insurance covers abortions, the president of USF’s Faculty Association told Our Sunday Visitor in an interview last week.

In an April 23 report by OSV contributing editor Valerie Schmalz, faculty association president Elliot Neaman said that, if USF tries to remove abortion as an insurance benefit, the association would file an unfair labor practice complaint.

“Whether abortion involves the killing of a child is ‘not relevant,’” said Neaman, according to the OSV report. “You are mixing up morality and contractual obligations.” Neaman is a professor of history at the university.

“If you work for the Jesuit University of San Francisco, no matter which USF health insurance you choose, it will pay for an abortion, sterilization, artificial contraception and some infertility treatments,” wrote Schmalz. “And that is unlikely to change anytime soon, despite a report here earlier this year.”

Neaman’s observations about the Catholic character of USF directly contradict the university’s “Vision Statement” posted on its website, which describes the school as “a premier Jesuit Catholic, urban University with a global perspective that educates leaders who will fashion a more humane and just world.”

To read Schmalz’s full report on Our Sunday Visitor’s website, Click Here.