News

By John-Henry Westen
HARTFORD, CT, August 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fortune 100 company Aetna, one of the nation’s largest health care insurance providers, has a surprising and little known policy. “Aetna will pay for a woman to receive an abortion for any reason at any time during her pregnancy.  Whether she is 6 weeks pregnant or 6 months pregnant, whether it is her first or her tenth abortion, the company imposes no restrictions whatsoever,” according to Epiphany Funds, a company which was invested with Aetna and is now aiming to have Aetna change its policy.

  See the Aetna policy on abortion here:https://www.aetna.com/fsa/understanding/health/healthcareexpenses.html

  Gina Emrich of Epiphany Funds told LifeSiteNews.com that “In addition, only the very largest Aetna policy holders have the opportunity to exclude this coverage, meaning most policy holders are funding abortions, whether they intend to or not.” 

  Epiphany Funds, a Catholic mutual fund, was both an investor in Aetna and had Aetna coverage for their employees until they discovered the Aetna abortion policy. The portfolio manager of the Epiphany Core Equity Fund, Adam Auten, contacted Aetna’s CEO, Mr. Ronald Williams, requesting a change in their policy to restrict coverage of abortions to only those that are medically necessary. 

  In his July 2 letter to Aetna President and CEO Ronald Williams, Auten noted that Aetna, like most insurance providers only covers procedures that are “medically necessary”. However, Auten noted that Aetna has made an exception for abortion where there is no restriction on coverage. 

 “Aetna premium payers and shareholders should not be required to pay for this elective (abortion) procedure,” he wrote.

  Because the only Aetna response came from a regional office and did not address the issue, Mr. Auten contacted their Investor Relations department.  Their spokesman, Jeff Chaffkin, stated that their coverage of abortion is “insignificant” and not a priority for anyone at Aetna. 

  Epiphany Funds eliminates companies whose activities include abortion, pornography, contraception, and embryonic stem cell research.  However, the company is committed to being active shareholders and will engage corporate executives in dialog to try to change policies that they believe harmful. 

  Emrich told LifeSiteNews.com that “As a result of their lack of response or even a willingness to have a meaningful dialogue, we are starting an email campaign to encourage Aetna to change their policy.”

“We feel that in addition to the abortion battle being fought on the front lines at abortion clinics, corporations have to be held accountable for their activities and policies that contribute to this horrific problem,” she said.

  Aetna is also one of only 11 US companyies which is given a 100% approval rate by homosexual activists.

  To contact Aetna with your concerns via the Epiphany campaign:
https://www.investcatholic.com/aetna