On the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision and six months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the decision, Oregon Senate Democrats are committing to advancing reproductive freedom in Oregon.

“Access to abortion and reproductive care are essential to the health, safety, and prosperity of our communities. With threats to these services being enacted around the country, Oregon must continue to be a leader for reproductive freedom,” said Senator Deb Patterson(D-Salem).

There is the perception that a baby that is miscarried is a human being, but if it is unwanted, it’s a fetus that ceases to be human, otherwise abortion rights could be compromised. In Oregon, an unborn baby is a person when a pregnant mother is murdered, but if you abort the baby willingly, it ceases to be a person.

Perhaps the Democrat caucus doesn’t care to share the real story of Jane Roe, a bi-sexual waitress named Norma McCorvey that had no abortions but three children placed for adoption. Then there is the case that she lied on the witness stand. The Atlantic reported that McCorvey believed that abortion ought to be legal for precisely three months after conception, a position she stated publicly after the Roe decision.

The Supreme Court opinion was mostly a doctor’s rights case -- a doctor’s right to prescribe what he thinks his patient needs. So how is it that Roe v. Wade is used to defend a woman’s right to abort an unwanted child up to time of birth, and after birth in a couple of states?

“Every Oregonian should get to choose when and how they start or grow their family,” said Majority Leader Kate Lieber. “The decision whether or not to have an abortion is deeply personal, and politicians have no right to make that choice for anyone.”

While abortion remains legal here in Oregon, restrictions in other states could send Americans with means fleeing to Oregon for reproductive health care. Twelve states, including Idaho, enacted bans immediately after the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, and state legislatures across the country are currently considering more anti-choice bills, including restrictions on contraception.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Oregon legislators have introduced ten bills related to abortions. It will be up to the Democrat majority leaders which ones receive a hearing and whether McCorvey's beliefs are considered.

• HB 2402 prohibiting public funding of abortions and protects provider for declining to perform an abortion.
• HB 2526 establishes a hotline to provide assistance to pregnant persons seeking abortions in Oregon.
• HB 2807 prohibits abortion after 39th week of gestation.
• HB 2808 prohibits abortion after 38th week of gestation.
• HB 2810 prohibits abortion after 37th week of gestation.
• HB 2809 prohibits late-term abortions except for medical emergency, rape or incest.
• SB 513 prohibits abortion unless health care provider first determines 15 weeks or less gestational age of unborn child, except for medical emergency.
• SB 101 & SB 117 requires Department of Human Services to study adoptions.
• HB 2592 provides financial assistance to prospective adoptive families to cover costs associated with adoption not paid for by public funds or insurance.

In 2023, Senate Democrats wants to strive to follow up on the recommendations from the Reproductive Health and Access to Care Work Group, including efforts to improve access to care in medically underserved regions of the state; protect individuals located in Oregon from criminal and civil liability for receiving, supporting, or providing reproductive and gender-affirming care; protect Oregonians from misleading and biased medical claims by crisis pregnancy centers; and expand existing rights to access health services.

At the national level, Republicans in Congress are pursuing legislation protecting the rights of the unborn by proposing a 15-week abortion ban that would impact Oregonians.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-01-23 21:54:36

Last Update: 2023-01-23 12:42:29