PRO-LIFE INFONET 

CAMBRIDGE, Wednesday, December 9 -- While national debate about abortion and who should foot the bill for it has been raging, Harvard has quietly subsidized abortions for students for over a decade. 

But after Daniel H. Choi informed students in an October column 
in The Crimson that they subsidize abortions performed by the University Health Services (UHS), pro-life students balked at the long-standing policy. 

Each semester, UHS requires all students to pay a Health Service Fee of  $323.  According to UHS officials, Harvard pools this money into a budget, from which  money is withdrawn to finance all students' medical treatment at UHS facilities.  Within this budget, money is allotted to finance abortions for students. 

Although UHS's health plan policy is published annually in its Guidebook, few students know that part of their required Health Service Fee may eventually finance abortions. 

And for years, according to UHS Director David S. Rosenthal, the policy has provoked few questions. Rosenthal says UHS's current system of providing abortion subsidies has been in place since before his tenure began in 1989. 

According to the policy, a Harvard student deciding to have an abortion and take advantage of a subsidy from UHS must first consult one of UHS's primary health care physicians. Any pregnant person considering an abortion needs to seek counseling, Rosenthal says. This is a medical standard and the women need it. 

With a physician's referral, UHS provides $275 to pay for the abortion. 
Students are expected to pay the difference between UHS's subsidy and the actual cost of the abortion, UHS officials say. 

UHS only subsidizes abortions administered at Planned Parenthood/Preterm, Women's Health Services and Crittenton House abortion facilities. 

Every Harvard student must pay the Health Service Fee unless he is classified as a traveling scholar residing out-of-state, UHS officials say. 

Refunds Permitted, But Seldom Pursued 
One additional loophole exists. A proviso allows those opposed to 
abortions the option to request a refund of money they pay that would 
otherwise contribute to the subsidies. 

In the UHS Student Guide, there is a proviso for anyone disagreeing with the concept of abortion, Rosenthal says. The few pennies that the students paid in their fee that would go towards abortions will be returned to them. 

Rosenthal says although this option is easily available for students, few 
take advantage of it. 

But student Bronwen C. McShea,  who opposes abortion, says the small number of reimbursement requests reflects Harvard students' lack of knowledge about UHS procedures. 

McShea says she did not know about UHS's policy on abortion or its proviso for refunds until she read Choi's opinion piece in The Crimson 
last Friday, "UHS's Silence on Abortion." 

Last Sunday, McShea began posting fliers around campus announcing:  "UHS funds student abortions with YOUR money."

McShea says she agrees with Choi that UHS should make its abortion policy more public and well-known throughout the campus.  "I personally object to abortion." she says.  "And I think that if you object to them, that you should know from the beginning that some of the money you pay [to UHS] finances abortions." 

McShea says she took the time to print and post fliers to promote 
awareness on campus.  "I probably wouldn't have even known what was going on with UHS's abortion policies until someone pointed out [Choi's] article to me," she says. 

McShea has also sent an e-mail message to UHS, requesting a reimbursement for her money.  "I realize that any hope of excluding abortion from the UHS health care plan is unreasonable," she says.  "But in principle, I don't want to be tied to abortion in any way." 

Student Gina M. Ocon, who opted against an abortion, deciding to balance 
her life as a student and a mother, says she was also unaware of UHS's 
abortion policies even after she tested positive in a UHS-administered 
pregnancy test. 

"I didn't find out about UHS's abortion policies until Daybreak, what used to be a pregnancy-crisis center, told me that UHS offers the services," she says.  "I was shocked to find out that part of an abortion would be paid for." 

"In [abortion], you would be killing a human being," McShea says. "You can't simply choose one of them over the other." 

McShea advises others opposed to UHS's policies to follow her example. "Maybe the steps I am taking with e-mail and posters are small, but they are all that I can do right now to reach my ideal goal removing abortion from UHS's health care plan,"  she says.