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Wednesday, August 1, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Splash...
Oregon voters to decide on
state funding for abortions
By Andrew Selsky
Associated Press
SALEM (AP) — Oregon
voters will decide in
November whether one of
America’s most progressive
states should keep funding
abortions.
Opponents of the funding
gathered just enough signa-
tures to put the issue on the
ballot, the secretary of state’s
office said Friday.
“I’m thrilled,” said
Marylin Shannon, one of the
chief petitioners. “We’ve been
trying to do this since 2012.”
The retired schoolteacher
and former Republican state
senator said she opposes
abortion.
Gov. Kate Brown, a
Democrat, last year signed a
bill expanding coverage on
abortions and other repro-
ductive services to thousands
of Oregonians, regardless of
income, citizenship status or
gender identity.
The measure going before
Oregon voters says the state
“shall not spend public funds
for any abortion, except when
medically necessary or as may
be required by federal law.”
Similar measures failed in
1978, with 52 percent voting
against the move, and in 1986,
when 55 percent of voters
were opposed.
Emily McLain, execu-
tive director of Planned
Parenthood Advocates of
Oregon, said the new measure
isn’t aligned with the values
of Oregonians.
“One of the biggest issues
for us is it forces the state to
set a dangerous precedent by
cherry-picking what will and
won’t be covered by insur-
ance,” McLain said.
She said public employ-
ees, teachers, nurses and oth-
ers serving the state would be
affected if the measure passes
because their insurance would
no longer cover abortions. The
measure also “targets the most
vulnerable and low-income
Oregonians,” McLain said.
The Oregon secretary of
state’s website showed Friday
that petitioners gathered
117,799 valid signatures, just
over the 117,578 needed to
qualify for the ballot.
The effort had a year to
gather signatures, Shannon
said, in contrast to previous
efforts when challenges left
backers with too little time to
gather enough signatures.
Oregon is one of a hand-
ful of states that allows pub-
lic funds to pay for abortions
through its Medicaid pro-
gram, with the full cost paid
by Oregon taxpayers.
“We think public fund-
ing of abortion is wrong,”
Shannon said.
In 1969, Oregon became
one of the first states to
decriminalize abortion, four
years before the U.S. Supreme
Court’s Roe v. Wade decision
that affirmed a woman’s right
to abortion.
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