Wheaton College will no longer provide health insurance to students due to the school’s opposition to the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

Wheaton is a Christian liberal arts college in suburban Chicago that has roughly 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. This decision will affect a quarter of the student body that was expecting coverage from the student health insurance plan in the upcoming school year.

Student development vice president Paul Chelsen said he regrets that students have been hurt by this action, but the decision was necessary in order to protect a lawsuit Wheaton filed in 2012 with the Department of Health and Human Services.

“If we don’t win this case, the implications down the road in terms of what the government will tell us what we can and cannot do will be potentially more significant,” Chelson reportedly said in an information session with students.

Wheaton College had been offering the Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) since 2010. According to Chelsen, the Affordable Care Act’s requirements had caused SHIP’s premiums to increase over the past few years.

In June, the college learned that it would also be required to provide enrollees with free access to all FDA-approved contraceptives, including abortifacient products and services that violate the school’s religious beliefs.

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court denied Wheaton’s request for a preliminary injunction while its lawsuit is pending, which ultimately led the school to drop its health care coverage altogether.

“We regret that we were not able to provide earlier notice of this significant change,” Chelsen said in a July 22 statement. “The college is considering all of its options and will explore the possibility of again offering a SHIP in the future if circumstances allow us to do so in good conscience.”