This summer, Gov. Kate Brown signed legislation expanding the reproductive services that insurers must provide if they sell health plans in Oregon. Among those services: abortion.
That provision is one reason House Bill 3391, also called the Reproductive Health Equity Act, passed along totally partisan lines. Not a single Republican in the state House or Senate supported it.
Proponents of the law say it provides valuable health care services for women. The House Democratic Caucus praised it for its guarantee of “comprehensive reproductive health care” for Oregon women with zero out-of-pocket costs.
Stephanie Yao Long
"I believe that affordable access to reproductive health care shouldn't depend on who you are, where you live, or how much you earn," Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, said in a statement when the bill passed. "Health care is a basic human right."
Critics pan it for building on Oregon’s already lax restrictions on access to abortion. When the bill passed the Senate, the Republican Caucus in that chamber said the bill “forces Oregonians to fund late-term, sex-selective abortions.”
"We should be protecting innocent life, and we should be protecting baby girls from being killed simply for being female," Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, said in a statement. "No one should be forced to pay for gendercide against their conscience."
There's no evidence to support Thatcher's claim, given a lack of data. Sex selection techniques like sperm sorting are available at many fertility clinics, but the choice comes before pregnancy, not during.
The Reproductive Health Equity Act has received widespread media attention. But some sites bent the truth in their headlines. Brietbart news ran with the headline, "Oregon Governor Signs Bill Requiring Free Abortions for All." For its headline, the National Review went with, "Oregon Governor Puts Taxpayers on the Hook for All Abortions."
Neither of those claims are true. So what does the Reproductive Health Equity Act really do? Here’s a rundown:
What exactly does the Reproductive Health Equity Act do?
The new law requires that health plans sold in Oregon “must provide coverage” for a suite of reproductive health care services at no out-of-pocket cost to the insured.
Services covered include: Screenings for pregnancy, sexually-transmitted infections, breast and cervical cancers, genetic cancer risk factors and other health problems; counseling for tobacco use, STIs, breast cancer treatment and domestic violence; breastfeeding support; contraceptive drugs and devices, including insertion and counseling; voluntary sterilization and abortion.
Esteban Felix
Does this bill guarantee free abortions for anyone?
No. The bill guarantees that health plans sold in Oregon cover abortion services with no out-of-pocket costs. That means the people or companies that pay the premiums, not taxpayers, cover the costs. (The law exempts insurers from having to cover abortion services if the insurer’s individual and employer group plans sold in 2017 excluded abortion coverage.)
Does this bill force taxpayers to fund abortions?
In some cases, yes. Oregon was already one of a handful of states that allows for public funds to pay for abortions through its Medicaid program, called the Oregon Health Plan. Because federal Medicaid funds don’t pay for abortions, when an Oregon Health Plan patient gets one, the full cost falls to Oregon taxpayers.
Can people living in the country illegally really get a taxpayer-funded abortion under this law?
Yes. The Reproductive Health Equity Act allows non-legal residents who lack health insurance to have an abortion paid for by the state. State officials estimate abortions provided to those residents will cost roughly $300,000 a year.
Does this law allow for late term or sex-selective abortions?
Not specifically. Before the law passed, Oregon already had the most liberal abortion laws in the nation. There are no restrictions on sex-selective or late-term abortions in state law.
There is no evidence that Oregon women terminate pregnancies because of the gender of the fetus, however, and no agency formally tracks or investigates that issue.
Larry Bingham, spokesman at the Oregon Health Authority, adds, "There’s no data to suggest that Oregon women terminate pregnancies because of the sex of the fetus. The state doesn’t collect the data on this issue."
Late-term abortions are rare and accounted for fewer than 300 of the nearly 9,000 abortions performed in Oregon last year, according to state data.
-- Gordon R. Friedman
503-221-8209; @GordonRFriedman
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