Opposing Abortion Coverage

Last summer, the University Health Services experimented with an abortion coverage plan that allowed people who are morally opposed to non-therapeutic abortion to ask the University to return the portion of their health services fee that went toward that coverage.

Only 50 of the 8000 University employees requested the refunds, and the UHS was convinced that there wouldn't be overwhelming opposition if the policy was extended to cover abortions for students.

When the policy change was announced last month, Dr. Warren E.C. Wacker, director of the UHS, said he had no idea how many students would refuse to participate in the plan, but that the number of people who asked the UHS to refund their 56 cents would not affect the policy.

About 200 of the 15,500 students now covered for non-therapeutic abortions have asked for their money back, a rather larger percentage than pulled out of the summer's plan.

And more letters from students morally opposed to abortion are likely to come in The Rev. Thomas F. Powers, the Catholic chaplain for Harvard, said yesterday he has talked to a lot of students who do not want to participate in the abortion plan but who have not yet gotten around to writing the letter to UHS.

But UHS seems unlikely to reconsider its policy no matter how many people withdraw.

"You don't cut off a policy in the middle," Ann G. Bisbee '62, assistant to the director of UHS for abortion counselling, said yesterday, adding, "there's no danger that we'll reverse the policy allowing people to withdraw from the plan, either."