Democrats and pro-choice organizations are rejoicing over Oregon passing “the nation’s most progressive reproductive health bill.” The state’s governor Kate Brown signed the House Bill 3391, which now states that abortions will be free for all, even illegal immigrants in the state.
Insurance companies and taxpayers will instead be responsible for funding these procedures. $500,000 of the $10.2 million Reproductive Health Equity Act will be designated for abortions. There are an estimated 22,873 women eligible for these procedures.
“Thank Kate Brown for signing the nation’s most progressive reproductive health bill into law today!” said NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon.
Planned Parenthood, which is fighting a federal bill defunding the pro-choice organization, applauded the bill.
“We are so grateful for the bold leadership of Gov. Brown and legislative champions who understand that Oregonians don’t want reproductive health care attacked,” said Laurel Swerdlow, advocacy director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. “Women, transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, people of color, immigrants and people of faith are not going to silently stand around while politicians in Washington, D.C., try to take away our health care.”
But now Oregon insurers, regardless of what they believe, are forced to cover 100% of the costs of abortions for their patients without co-pays or deductibles. The state will then reimburse the clinics for these costs.
Pro-life supporters and Republicans argue that this is unfairly biased and completely disregards their opinions, along with the opinions of pro-life tax payers who don’t feel comfortable funding a procedure that goes against their beliefs.
“There are many things that make Oregon a wonderful state. Unfortunately, HB 3391 is not one of them,” said Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life. “Today, Gov. Brown demonstrated her extreme bias in favor of the abortion rights lobby, disregarding thousands of future Oregonians whose lives have been further endangered by making their elimination 100 percent expense-free.”
The passing of this bill is expected to increase the number of abortions in Oregon. The fact that this option is now free will only make abortion seem more attractive to women who experience unexpected pregnancies.
Pro-choice supporters claim that unexpected pregnancies often lead to poverty. (So these babies need to be terminated for the greater good of the country?)
“Unintended pregnancies can perpetuate cycles of poverty, and we can help stop it. It is a woman’s right to choose when and if she is ready in her life to have a child,” said Democratic state Sen. Laurie Anderson.
“Oregon taxpayers already cover nearly 50 percent of all abortions in the state whether they like it or not,” said Atteberry. “By making abortion free, this percentage will inevitably increase. We also expect more late-term abortions, which are currently very expensive as well as risky to perform. All completely covered by either insurance companies or by the Oregon taxpayers.”
Unfortunately, some lawmakers think that Oregon’s bill will influence other blue states to follow suit.
“Everyone in America needs to see that Oregon’s former late-term abortion-lobbyist governor Kate Brown just forced Oregonians to fund against their will late-term and sex-selective abortions,” said Jonathan Lockwood, spokesman for the Oregon Senate Republicans. “Watch out; this is coming to a state near you.”
Author’s note: This bill is just Oregon Democrats’ way of counter the recent federal government’s pushback on abortion health coverage. No one should be forced to contribute to something that goes against their beliefs. Not to mention, why should illegal aliens be given free abortion coverage too? They aren’t tax-payers.
Editor’s note: The liberals continue to force their views on multiple fronts – pro-abortion, pro-illegal immigrant, and giving stuff away for free. Perfect.