While national debate about a woman's right to choose--and who should foot the bill for her choice--has been raging, Harvard has quietly subsidized abortions for students for over a decade.

But after Daniel H. Choi '94 informed students in an Oct. 30 opinion piece in The Crimson that they subsidize abortions performed by the University Health Services (UHS), anti-abortion 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According to UHS officials, Harvard pools this money into a budget, from which money is withdrawn to finance all students' medical treatment at UHS facilities.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 seeking to terminate a pregnancy.

Although UHS's health plan policy is published in annually 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 '59, the policy has provoked few questions.

University Policy

The Guidebook, which officials say is distributed to students every year during registration, outlines UHS's policies and the distribution of the Health Service Fee.

Rosenthal said in an interview that only "a few pennies" from each student's Health Service Fee actually go towards abortions.

"The number of abortions among our students has thankfully gotten smaller and smaller each year," he says. "We are finally servicing a health literate population that listens and understands about safe sex, birth control, and condoms. This is a new era."

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 or not--needs to seek counseling," Rosenthal says. "This is a medical standard and the women need it."

With a physician's referral, UHS provides $275 toward funding the procedure. According to the Feminist Health Center, an advocacy organization for women, first trimester abortions usually cost between $400 and $600, and second trimester abortions cost between $500 and $5,000. Students are expected to pay the difference between UHS's subsidy and the actual cost of the abortion, UHS officials say.

Even though UHS's subsidy alone will not pay for an entire abortion procedure, Aisha M. Thompson '99, director of Peer Contraceptive Counseling, says the monetary support is significant.