A8
OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Saturday, June 25, 2022
Abortion:
have proven essential to the
health, economic participa-
tion and freedom of people to
control their own bodies,” said
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Or-
egon.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore-
gon, sent video messages from
the steps of the U.S. Supreme
Court in Washington, D.C.,
amid a crowd gathered outside
to hear the decision.
“When you have to make
the most intimate, personal
decisions that will impact your
life and your health and body, I
don’t know anyone who wants
some politician in the room,”
Merkley said.
Continued from Page A1
either. Following along with
that, forced parenthood is
traumatic. Even if the baby is
guaranteed a better life, stud-
ies show that people who are
adopted are four times more
likely to attempt suicide.”
She said the coali-
tion stands with a birthing
person’s right to abortion
access and “forcing them
to have a child, whether
adopted or in foster care,
helps nobody.”
Mark Peterson, Umatilla
County Democratic Party
co-chair, characterized the
ruling as deeply unfortunate.
Republicans, he said, for the
past 30-40 years have used
the abortion debate to gain
access to voters in the reli-
gious right.
“The move against abor-
tion has been a key Repub-
lican platform, with most
of the decisions being made
by men legislating women’s
bodies,” he said. “The posi-
tion of the Democratic party
in Oregon and nationally is
a woman’s right to choose.”
Abortion rights group said
they plan marches against
the decision in Portland and
Eugene. Groups also planned
marches in other cities
around the nation.
Trump’s appointees
carry the vote
The ruling came with
the key backing of the three
most recent Supreme Court
justices, all nominated by
former President Donald
Trump: Neil M. Gorsuch,
Brett M. Kavanaugh and
Amy Coney Barrett. They
were joined by Justices
Samuel Alito and Clarence
Thomas.
“The Constitution makes
no reference to abortion, and
no such right is implicitly
protected by any constitu-
tional provision,” Alito wrote
for the fi ve justices who voted
to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Abortion legal in
Oregon since 1969
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
More than a dozen anti-abortion and anti-same sex marriage supporters gather in 2018 on the steps of St. Mary’s Catholic
Church in Pendleton on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, June 24, 2022, reversed the ruling
that had made abortion legal.
Chief Justice John Roberts
concurred on a narrow
portion of the decision ruling
upholding the Mississippi
law barring abortions after
15 weeks but not overruling
Roe v. Wade.
“The court’s decision
to overrule Roe and Casey
is a serious jolt to the legal
system,” Roberts wrote.
A dissent was fi led by the
shrinking liberal wing of the
court — Justices Stephen
Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and
Elena Kagan.
“A state can force her (a
woman) to bring a pregnancy
to term, even at the steepest
personal and familial costs,”
the dissent said.
In Ohio, Trump praised the
ruling in an interview with
Fox News.
“This is following the
Constitution, and giving
rights back when they should
have been given long ago.”
President Joe Biden called
the decision “a tragic error.”
“This is a sad day for the
country in my view,” Biden
said.
Lawmakers weigh in
Much of the debate had
been preordained for more
than a month since a leaked
draft of the ruling began circu-
lating online.
Both abortion rights advo-
cates and anti-abortion activ-
ists were ready for the offi cial
announcement.
Brown scorned the ruling
in a statement the morning of
June 24.
“Let me be clear: You
cannot ban abortion, you can
only ban safe abortions —
and this disgraceful Supreme
Court decision will undoubt-
edly put many people’s lives at
risk,” the governor said..
Former House Minority
Leader Christine Drazan,
R-Canby, the Republican
nominee for governor of
Oregon in 2022, supported the
ruling. In a statement, Drazan
said if elected governor, she
would oppose attempts to
Water:
Continued from Page A1
city in a press release stated
officials are working to let
residents city drinking water
is safe, meeting and exceeding
state and federal water quality
guidelines.
“We want Boardman
city residents to know that
the safety of families in our
community is our top priority
— so we are taking an extra
eff ort to share testing informa-
tion and reports that provide
confi dence in the quality of
the drinking water that we
supply to city residents and
local businesses,” Boardman
City Manager Karen Petti-
grew said in a statement.
The city reported it has
taken the following steps to
share information about its
safe drinking water:
• Water quality testing
results are available on the city
website, www.cityofboard-
man.com, showing nitrate
levels well within safety
ranges established by Oregon
Health Authority.
• Information about safety
of drinking water and city hall
contact information on the
city reader board.
• Public service informa-
tion flyers in key locations
around Boardman.
Boardman also reported
the city sent safe drinking
water public service informa-
tion to residential developers
and city home-owners
“We continue to work
closely with all local commu-
nity health partners to make
sure our neighbors get the
assistance they need — we
particularly applaud the
eff orts of the local businesses
that have volunteered assis-
tance in distributing clean
water and paying for testing
kits/fi ltration systems for our
neighbors in rural Morrow
County,” according to Petti-
grew
For more information
about safe drinking water,
contact Boardman City Hall
at 541-481- 9252.
Looking toward the
next steps
Gray said helpers will be
giving way to new workers
and new methods for combat-
ing this emergency.
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Cases of water sit Thursday, June 23, 2022, in front of the Mor-
row County Government Center, 215 N.E. Main Ave., Irrigon.
“By next week, I’ll be back
behind a desk,” he said.
Sites will be open a few
times a week, he said, staff ed
by volunteers and paid work-
ers, to distribute water and
accept water samples.
He said distribution will
start changing, too. Water
deliveries will, more and
more, replace pick-up loca-
tions.
In time, he said, the county
plans to distribute filters
to each home. This is the
mid-term plan, he said.
Gray explained as the
emergency managers, he is
concerned with the disaster
itself, but the long-term plan
involves government actu-
ally solving the ground-water
problem so water is no longer
polluted.
Elected county and
city officials, he said, will
have to “fi gure out what to
do with that.”
LeeAnnOttosen@UmpquaBank.com
UmpquaBank.com/Lee-Ann-Ottosen
expand Oregon’s abortion
access laws.
“Despite the U.S. Supreme
Court’s decision, Oregon will
continue to have among the
most extreme abortion laws
in the country and around
the world,” Drazan said. “As
governor, I will stand up for life
by vetoing legislation designed
to push Oregon further outside
the mainstream.”
Drazan’s stance put her
at odds with her two leading
opponents in the general elec-
tion.
Former House Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Portland, the
2022 Democratic nominee for
governor, slammed the ruling
and said she would take an
opposite approach to Drazan.
“Our right to control our
own bodies and futures has
been gutted,” Kotek. “I’m
furious.”
Kotek called on abortion
rights supporters to turn out
for the November elections.
“Make no mistake: Repro-
ductive freedom is on the
ballot in Oregon this year,”
she said.
Betsy Johnson, the former
Democratic state senator
launching an unaffi liated bid
for governor, said the right
to choose abortion was a
“bedrock” issue for her and
the state.
“I am pro-choice,” Johnson
said. “As Oregon’s indepen-
dent governor, I will always
defend and protect a woman’s
right to choose.”
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Ontario, tweeted a picture
of the Supreme Court justices
with the message, “A momen-
tous decision. Every human
life is sacred.”
Bentz represents the 2nd
Congressional District, which
includes most of Eastern and
Central Oregon.
Oregon’s two U.S. Senators
pilloried the decision.
“These radical Justices
have ensured American
women today have fewer
rights than their grandmothers
had decades ago – rights that
In 1969, Oregon became
one of the fi rst states to legal-
ize some form of abortion.
Modeled after a British
statute, the state law approved
by the legislature allowed legal
abortions during the fi rst 150
days after conception.
The patient had to be an
Oregon resident and the proce-
dure was limited to cases of
rape, severe handicaps or
danger to the mother’s physical
or mental health. The proce-
dure could only be done in a
hospital by a physician.
The state’s early adoption
of abortion rights became
a rallying issue for Oregon
Right to Life, which posts on
its website:
“Oregon is the only state
in America with NO protec-
tive pro-life laws. Oregon also
legalized abortion before Roe
v. Wade.”
After the U.S. Supreme
Court ruling in Roe v. Wade in
1973, Oregon aligned its laws
with the federal standard.
In 2017, the Legislature
approved a bill requiring
insurance companies to cover
abortions.
A copy of the Multi-State
Commitment to Repro-
ductive Freedom is at
bit.ly/3tWdXDW.
— East Oregonian news-
room intern Antonio Arre-
dondo contributed to this
report.