Georgetown University Law Center’s new practicum course set to begin next semester entitled “Regulatory Advocacy: Women and the Affordable Care Act” sparked controversy over the weekend after Catholic media sources such as the Cardinal Newman Society claimed the class would “have students working with a pro-abortion rights advocacy organization.”
According to the Law Center’s website, the four-credit course will “provide students with substantive knowledge of the ACA and a real world understanding of consumer advocacy and the regulatory process.”
During the course, students will attend a two-hour seminar with 10 hours of supervised work per week at the National Women’s Law Center, where they will participate in strategy meetings and conference calls with partner organizations.
Kelli Garcia, adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown Law School and Senior Counsel for the NWLC, is at the center of the controversy surrounding the class. Her work, which the NWLC site describes as “focused on addressing religious restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health services,” angered conservative Catholic writers.
“We have long warned about Georgetown scandals that undermine the Church’s strong defense of innocent life. But here students are being required to work for a pro-abortion lobby, making America’s oldest Catholic university an active agent of the culture of death. If allowed to continue, this puts Georgetown in direct opposition to the Church,” Patrick Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society, wrote in an article on the Cardinal Newman Society website.
“It goes without saying that the class should be canceled. But so much more would be expected at a faithfully Catholic college. How did the class get approved? How did a professor with such credentials get hired? Why has there been no outcry within Georgetown? The rot goes very deep,” Reilly later said in an interview with the Voice.
Many students and faculty members disagreed with these claims. “Categorizing the National Women’s Law Center as a ‘pro-abortion’ lobby trivializes the rights of women and diminishes the other various work it has accomplished,” said Abigail Grace (SFS ’16), vice president of H*yas for Choice. “Georgetown Law is not only well within their bounds to offer such a course, but should do it to ensure that their students are aware of the issues they will face in their future professional duties. Choosing not to offer these courses because of specific religious beliefs is reprehensible and does a disservice to the students that come to Georgetown for a comprehensive education.”
The practicum course will be optional and will cover issues including state maternity coverage mandates and whether women will be able to receive adequate coverage for treatment of eating disorders.
According to the course description, the class curriculum contains no assignments related to abortion.
“The Affordable Care Act is a major piece of legislation that has introduced significant change to regulatory landscape and is important for anyone interested in health law or administrative law,” Garcia said in an interview with the Voice. According to Garcia, by focusing on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and women’s health, the class offers students an in-depth study of this historic piece of health care legislation.
