The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Staff Reports
Posted: Monday, January 01, 2018 12:25 PM
Oregon Lawmakers Pass Bill Requiring Insurers To Pay 100% Of All Abortion-On Demand Costs
The bill also requires insurers to pay $10 million into a fund for public funding of abortions into what critics are saying is a gift to Planned Parenthood.
“Yes! Yes! Yes! ‘Oregon Legislature Approves Reproductive Services Bill Covering Abortions, Contraceptives,’” Governor Kate Brown tweeted after the bill passed.
There are some exemptions for religious-based health care providers, but Bill Diss, leader of Precious Children of Portland and a member of Holy Rosary Parish in the city, told Portland’s Catholic Sentinel that other portions of the bill “promoted the killing of unborn children.”
The Oregon Catholic Conference has asked that citizens opposed to the bill support the proposed 2018 ballot initiative, Stop Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. The proposed act would keep state funds from being used for any abortions that is not medically necessary or when spending is required by federal law.
To qualify for the ballot, the petition needs 117,000 signatures from registered voters.
“By insisting on complete insurance coverage of abortion, including late-term and sex-selective abortions, the legislature shows itself intolerant of widely-held opposing views and will compel thousands of Oregonians to support what their conscience rejects,” the Oregon Catholic Conference said.
