While Georgetown University’s Catholic, Jesuit values guide its mission of education and advocacy, it is also using these values to support its stance on unpopular, unsafe campus policies. Georgetown’s stance toward abortion and contraception access on campus, which has dangerous effects on the university’s ability to offer comprehensive health care to its student body, is a potent reminder of its failures to support its students’ needs.

The Catholic Church has long held that abortion and artificial contraception are morally impermissible, and Georgetown has faced pressure from the church’s hierarchy, including the Vatican, to maintain stances that coincide with Catholic teachings. 

Thus, Georgetown does not offer contraception to its students except for certain medical purposes. Despite its wish to abide by its Catholic principles, though, access to contraception is an essential aspect of health care, especially for college students. 

The Editorial Board condemns Georgetown for creating an unsafe and unhealthy environment for its students — not only by failing to offer comprehensive contraception, but also by fostering a culture that makes students feel unsupported and unheard by administrators. Thus, the Editorial Board calls on the university to begin listening and acknowledging its students’ needs, which starts with making contraceptives more accessible to all. If the university is truly committed to caring for the health and well-being of its students, there should be no question as to whether or not this is the right decision.

Contraceptives dramatically reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy — which accounts for almost half of pregnancies in the United States — and can offer numerous other medical benefits, such as protection from sexually transmitted diseases. 

Elinor Sims (CAS ’25) sharply criticized Georgetown’s unwillingness to provide contraception.

“Not only does this diminish the importance of sexual health, it also puts a historically problematic medical burden on women — to prove their pain,” Sims wrote to The Hoya. “As a student with PMDD [premenstrual dysphoric disorder], a condition that is difficult to diagnose, I would likely qualify for contraceptives through Georgetown, though it would be near impossible to prove my symptoms.” 

“I am fortunate enough to be able to afford private health insurance, but, without it, the university guidelines and inaccessibility to hormonal birth control could put my life in danger,” Sims said.

The university has defended its position by boasting about its Health Education Services (HES), the university’s primary provider of health education.

“In addition to offering free, anonymous home-testing pregnancy kits to students, HES offers free counseling, support, and honest answers to questions, concerns, and general inquiries regarding sexual health and available resources,” the university spokesperson wrote to The Hoya.

HES prides itself on “caring for the WHOLE Hoya,” according to the HES website. 

Yet, for many students, this is not nearly enough, according to Sims.

“Through HES providing services such as pregnancy tests, but denying services of birth control and contraceptives, the university promotes that they care more about the potential fetus in their students’ wombs than their actual students,” Sims said.

Along with its refusal to provide contraception and other forms of care, the university also creates an environment that makes students feel that their sexual health is unsupported and overlooked. On Jan. 21, 2023, Georgetown University hosted and sponsored the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life (OCC), the largest student-run anti-abortion conference in the nation. 

The annual conference was co-sponsored by various university groups, including the Office of Mission and Ministry, as well as the Georgetown University Right to Life student group, a club that receives funding from the university.

The conference has made many students, including Phoebe Chartock (CAS ’25), uneasy when they see it juxtaposed with Georgetown’s utter lack of support for student’s sexual health.

“I experience intense discomfort at the fact that my university supports and hosts conferences or groups advocating for forced pregnancy, particularly when they won’t supply students with contraception to prevent against unintended pregnancies in the first place,” Chartock wrote to The Hoya.

Georgetown’s Catholic identity guides its stance on abortion and contraception, according to the spokesperson.

“Georgetown is firmly committed to the Catholic Church’s teachings and values, including those about the sanctity and dignity of life, and we strongly support a climate that continues to provide students with new and deeper contexts for engaging with our Catholic tradition and Jesuit identity,” the spokesperson wrote. 

OCC is also open to people of all faiths and encourages open discussion, the spokesperson said. 

Despite its apparent commitment to open dialogue among the members of its community, the university continues failing to listen to one of the most prominent demands among its students: access to contraceptives.

H*yas for Choice (HFC), a student organization with no recognition or funding from the university, has taken the initiative to step in and fill the gap that Georgetown has created in depriving its students of these necessary medical resources. HFC offers condoms, dental dams and emergency contraception to the Georgetown community, as well as educational resources for reproductive justice. 

HFC Director of Development Abby Kirk (CAS ’23) said that Catholic values are not a reasonable justification for the school’s unwillingness to provide students with contraceptives. 

“It would be entirely possible to maintain Georgetown’s Catholic identity without acting in diametric opposition to the student body in ways that students not only disagree with but often feel uncomfortable and unsafe with,” Kirk wrote to The Hoya. 

HFC’s lack of funding is merely one of the many examples of Georgetown’s unwillingness to support necessary health care measures.

It’s ironic that, while the university holds the OCC to foster campus discourse, the administration is unwilling to listen to its own students, who have had to take matters into their own hands to give students what they want and need. 

Students are demanding better from the university, but their demands are going entirely unheard as the school hypocritically insists on open discourse yet offers no aid to those who need it most. The university clearly has the funds to support groups like Right to Life and the OCC, yet it is unwilling to fund — or even support — students’ most demanded requests.

Georgetown preaches the tenet of “cura personalis,” a Jesuit value meaning “care for the whole person.” 

Yet, with its health care policies, the university is caring for no one except antiquated ideals and platitudinous claims of open dialogue. 

The Hoya’s Editorial Board is composed of six students and is chaired by the opinion editors. Editorials reflect only the beliefs of a majority of the board and are not representative of The Hoya or any individual member of the board.