Swiss-based health insurance company Helsana AG came under fire this week for offering a 10% discount to members of the Pro Life Switzerland organisation.
Members of the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland wrote a letter to Helsana’s management urging the company to terminate its contracts with the anti-abortion group, whose members sign a commitment not to carry out a pregnancy termination.
"By working with Pro Life, you are supporting a movement that is directly attacking this fundamental right and with it the physical and mental health of women," said the letter, which was written by the co-presidents of SP Women Switzerland.
A spokesman for Helsana said by email that the reductions offered to Pro Life Switzerland have "no connection with a voluntarily signed abortion waiver, which is purely internal to Pro Life and has nothing to do with Helsana".
"Helsana respects the political and religious positions of each of its insured persons,” spokesman Gaël Saillen said. "Its role is to reimburse medical services, which Helsana also does for abortion."
Abortion has been legal in Switzerland since 2002 when Swiss voters approved a measure to decriminalise terminations during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
In 2020, the abortion rate among Swiss women was 5.4%, according to the Swiss federal statistics office.