An evangelical Christian college in suburban Chicago is refusing to buckle under Obamacare's controversial contraception mandate, and Friday stops providing students health insurance.
The decision forces about a quarter of Wheaton College's 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students to shop for other plans,
the Chicago Tribune reports.
Healthcare insurance for faculty and staff is not affected, nor is access to the campus health clinic, officials said.
Wheaton College, as well as other Christian nonprofits and businesses such as arts-and-
crafts retailer Hobby Lobby, has challenged Obamacare's contraception mandate in court in an attempt to avoid any form of coverage
— even if the school were not required to pay for the contraception
— filing a lawsuit in 2012.
Wheaton officials argue even if they don't have to cover birth control, other insurers could do so, forcing Wheaton to violate its religious beliefs.
"We are attempting to protect the larger lawsuit the college has against the Department of Health and Human Services," Paul Chelsen, Wheaton's vice president of student development, said last week during an information session for students, the Tribune reports.
"The reason protecting that case is so important is because basically what has happened is the government is telling us we have to offer something that we find morally objectionable."
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Wheaton's request earlier this month for a preliminary injunction while its lawsuit is pending, hastening the college's decision to drop the students' health care coverage, the Tribune reports.
Chelsen said the college is investigating the possibility of a self-insured plan for students in the future.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.