MIDDLETOWN, Connecticut (LifeSiteNews) — Wesleyan University is giving in to a socialist group’s demands to subsidize abortion and abortifacient drugs for students beginning next fall, in a move that is raising questions about the power of left-wing activists, as well as double-standards regarding more life-affirming options.
“Starting in the fall semester 2023, DHC will provide all emergency contraceptives (Plan B and Ella) free of charge,” the university announced this week, WTNH report. Plan B and Ella can act as abortifacients.
“Consistent with the health center’s mission to provide education and support in the decision-making process, students will be able to access emergency contraceptives by consulting with a nurse at DHC [Davidson Health Center]. The University will rely on a student’s insurance plan to pay for abortion services but will offer financial assistance to any student whose insurance does not cover abortions and/or pay co-pays and deductibles after insurance has been filed. Wesleyan University has long provided financial support for those in need beyond what their medical insurance might cover,” the university continued.
The school added a declaration of solidarity with the abortion lobby, stating that, at a “time when reproductive freedom is being threatened around the country, Wesleyan is dedicated to providing students with support for free emergency contraception or for the decision to terminate a pregnancy.”
The decision follows the Wesleyan Democratic Socialists group circulating a petition demanding the new handouts for abortion “access,” in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last summer to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing states to set their own abortion laws.
The Wesleyan Admin has accepted our demands regarding the Reproductive Justice Campaign. Thank you to everyone that signed the petition and supported our cause. pic.twitter.com/KZnqAdN7Cd
— Wesleyan Democratic Socialists 🌹 (@wes_ydsa) May 3, 2023
Wesleyan is in Connecticut, where abortion remains legal for any reason up to 24 weeks.
“It saddened us that Wesleyan University is going to pay for the abortions of its students,” lamented Family Institute of Connecticut executive director Peter Wolfgang. “If Wesleyan is willing to pay for the abortions of its student[s], then it ought to pay for the live birth for their students as well including childcare for the students, who are attending classes and interviewing for jobs and medical care, too.”
Fourteen states currently ban all or most abortions, thanks to the reversal of Roe putting abortion back in the hands of the democratic process, but financial aid for abortion in states where it remains legal, whether by taxpayers or private entities, is one of the abortion lobby’s many tactics to preserve abortion “access” in this new landscape.
Other strategies include easing distribution of abortion pills, legal protection and financial support of interstate abortion travel, attempting to enshrine “rights” to the practice in state constitutions, attempting to construct new abortion facilities near borders shared by pro-life and pro-abortion states, and making liberal states sanctuaries for those who want to evade or violate the laws of more pro-life neighbors.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has called on Congress to codify a “right” to abortion in federal law, which would not only restore but expand the Roe status quo by making it illegal for states to pass virtually any pro-life laws. Democrats currently lack the votes to do so, but whether they get those votes is sure to be one of the major issues of the 2024 elections.