MAY 06, 2022, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7
Abortion rights protected in Oregon
regardless of Supreme Court ruling
BY JULIA SHUMWAY
Of the Oregon Capital Chronicle
If the U.S. Supreme Court’s final deci-
sion on abortion rights resembles a draft
opinion leaked Monday night, women
in more than half the country could lose
access to a right they’ve had for 50 years.
In Oregon, women seeking abortions
would not see immediate consequences.
Over several decades, and even more
during the past five years, Oregon law-
makers have protected abortion rights
and provided funding to ensure every
patient seeking an abortion can receive
one at no cost.
However, reproductive health care
providers have warned that abortion
restrictions in other states may make it
harder for Oregon women to receive care.
According to the Guttmacher Institute,
an abortion rights advocacy group based
in New York, hundreds of thousands of
women from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming
or Utah would be left to travel hundreds
of miles to Washington, Oregon or
Colorado for reproductive care.
Oregon clinics, which performed
about 6,600 abortions last year, are
already struggling to hire staff. Planned
Parenthood began leasing critical space
in Ontario in eastern Oregon following
the Idaho Legislature’s passage of a law
that would ban abortions after six weeks
of gestation, before many women know
they’re pregnant.
An Idaho judge stayed the new law,
but the expected U.S. Supreme Court
decision would allow it to take effect.
Until the Ontario clinic opens, the clos-
est abortion providers for women in east-
ern Oregon are in Bend or Boise.
Abortion providers and legislative
Democrats say Oregon likely needs to do
more to shore up legal protections and
provide additional funding for women
seeking abortions, though they didn’t
have many details to share Tuesday.
For the past 50 years, the Oregon
Legislature has expanded protections
for abortion while Oregon voters have
defeated efforts to restrict abortion at
the ballot box. In 1978, 1986, 1990, 2006
and 2018, Oregon voters rejected ballot
measures that would have prohibited
state funding for abortions and required
parental notification.
In 1983, lawmakers overturned the
pre-Roe abortion law and declared that
abortion was a right under the state
Constitution.
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Demonstrators rallied outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, as justices
heard arguments in a Mississippi case that seeks to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Photo by JANE NORMAN of the States Newsroom
In 2017, following the election of
Republican President Donald Trump and
a GOP-controlled U.S. House and Senate,
Democratic states including Oregon
sought to further protect the right to an
abortion and provide state funding.
At the time, national Republicans
were seeking to prevent any federal fund-
ing from reaching Planned Parenthood
and to remove birth control as an essen-
tial health benefit that must be covered
by insurance plans. Planned Parenthood
and other abortion providers are already
banned from using federal money to pay
for abortion care, but they could receive
federal funding for services, including
testing for pregnancy or sexually trans-
mitted infections, HPV vaccinations and
screening for breast or cervical cancer.
Oregon
responded
with
the
Reproductive Health Equity Act, which
passed along party lines and was signed
by Gov. Kate Brown in August 2017. It
required insurance providers to cover
abortion costs for all women and guar-
anteed that the state will cover costs for
people covered by Medicaid or who are
uninsured, including those living in the
U.S. without legal documentation.
The 2017 law also enshrined the right
to abortion care in state law. Other states,
most recently Colorado, have since
passed their own versions of the law.
This spring, following the passage of
laws effectively banning abortion after
six weeks in Texas and Idaho, Oregon
lawmakers appropriated $15 million for
abortion providers to hire more employ-
ees, buy equipment or expand services,
as well as cover expenses like travel,
hotel stays, child care and missing wages
for women seeking abortions at Oregon
clinics.
Nonprofit organizations including
the Eugene-based Northwest Abortion
Access Fund already provided similar
aid.
Legislative Democrats including
House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis,
said more work may need to be done.
In a statement, Rayfield said lives
are at risk if Roe v. Wade is overturned,
especially in low-income communities.
Democrats in the Legislature have pre-
pared for years for such a court reversal,
he said.
“As dozens of states attack abortion
rights and this decision looms, we need
to ensure that we fill our gaps in cover-
age and help people get the care they
need,” he said. “I anticipate much more
work ahead in the interim to determine
what legislative and funding solutions
are needed to support and improve our
reproductive healthcare infrastructure.”
Rep. Julie Fahey, the House
Democratic leader from Eugene, told the
Capital Chronicle lawmakers are moni-
toring how the 2017 law is being imple-
mented and looking at policy changes.
This year, the Legislature tweaked the
2017 law to clarify state agencies’ author-
ity, and similar minor technical changes
could come in future years.
Fahey said legislative Democrats will
continue protecting abortion rights even
if voters elect a governor who opposes
them.
“In the Legislature, we will always,
regardless of who’s in the governor’s
office, or what the Supreme Court says,
we will always fight to maintain that
right,” Fahey said.
An Do, executive director of the advo-
cacy organization Planned Parenthood
Advocates of Oregon, said during an
online news conference Tuesday that
reproductive health providers are think-
ing about other policies that might be
needed. The $15 million provided by the
Legislature was a good start, she said.
With just two weeks until the May 17
primary election, Do said voters should
keep abortion rights in mind.
“We need to be more robust and vigi-
lant than ever to ensure we have people
who are representing our interests,” she
said.