Oregon Governor, Kate Brown, announced Thursday that she will sign a bill requiring insurers to provide free abortions for their customers, including illegal immigrants.
The sweeping legislation passed both state houses without any Republican support, with many claiming it was entirely unnecessary from an access standpoint, given that Oregon already has the least-restrictive abortion laws in the nation. As Republican, Representative Mike Nearman put it:
We don’t need to do this. This is Oregon. There [are] no legal restrictions on anyone’s right to get an abortion. You can get an abortion at any time for any reason. Even sex selection.
That didn’t stop the Democrat Governor from painting the legislation as something essential to “equal access” for poor and/or minority women.
The ability to control our bodies and make informed decisions about health are critical to providing all Oregonians the opportunity to achieve our full potential and live productive, thriving lives. Attempts to deny access to contraceptives and family planning are an attack on all Oregonians, particularly women of color, low-income and young women.
This ridiculous trope is always trotted out by those on the ideological left in their never-ending pursuit of total abortion on demand—in this iteration, totally free to the consumer. Although, we know that doesn’t actually mean free. By mandating that insurers provide this coverage, they are essentially placing that cost onto every healthcare consumer, through higher insurance costs. Hence, everyone in the state will help pay for abortions.
Even though a religious exemption for Catholic-sponsored insurance company Providence Health Plans was given, the taxpayers will still cover it, because the state will offer Providence Health’s customers a separate benefit giving them abortions and contraception for free.
If that didn’t go far enough, in violating the right of conscience of those who may be opposed to doing such a thing, to say nothing of those insurance providers who may not want to cover it, the bill also appropriates $500,000 for the estimated 22,873 women in the state who would be covered under the state’s Medicaid Program, the Oregon Health Plan, but for their immigration status.
The real big winner in all of this was Planned Parenthood’s Oregon affiliate, which helped write the measure. The $10.2 million bill s it struggles to keep its doors open. Despite a lack of abortion restrictions in the state, four Planned Parenthood facilities have closed in Oregon in the past few years as the number of procedures continues to decline.
Democratic state Representative Pam Marsh attested that this bill was partially in response to President Trumps’ threats of taking federal funding from the Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country, saying in an op-ed that the bill,
ensures that cost alone will never keep a woman from receiving services, regardless of citizenship status, ability to pay or gender identity. The bill also plants a clear flag: Regardless of any possible federal action to come, the state of Oregon will protect reproductive health care rights for all residents.
The bill is a huge profit windfall for Planned Parenthood, and will in all likelihood guarantee higher rates of abortion, because now there is no cost associated with the procedure at all. It seems that the Oregon Democrats are not content to merely allow the procedure to take place, but rather are now actively advancing it.
Source: Western Free Press
Register your interest for Daniel Secomb's new book, "Politics of the Last Days"
Daniel's new book explores the integral and fascinating role that politics will play in the end times.
He demonstrates that political philosophy is actually underpinned by biblcal principles and that by examining the political history of the past can give us a fascinating glimpse into how Biblical end times events will unfold.
Be sure to sign up with your name and email address to be notified of updates and the upcoming release date of the book.
