Awesome news!!! Onto the Senate!
Oregon House passes controversial reproductive rights bill after GOP delays, long debate
https://nbc16.com/news/local/oregon-hou ... ights-bill
by Christina Giardinelli and KATU StaffMon, May 1st 2023, 5:33 PM PDT
The Oregon House passed a controversial reproductive rights bill Monday after Republicans tried to delay the vote and a long and at times emotional debate.
House Bill 2002 passed 36-23 shortly after 7 p.m. The session convened at 9 a.m.
The bill expands access to abortion regardless of age and without the need for parental consent, which has been one of the biggest points of contention.
It also requires insurance companies to cover gender-affirming care
Oregon House passes sweeping bill to guarantee access to abortion, gender-affirming care
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023 ... ming-care/
The bill stands in opposition to legislation in Republican-led states blocking access and criminalizing care
By: Julia Shumway - May 1, 2023 7:19 pm
Democrats in the Oregon House passed a sweeping bill intended to guarantee access to abortion and gender-affirming care Monday evening after a grueling day of debate and parliamentary motions from Republicans who adamantly oppose the measure.
House Bill 2002, a top priority for Democrats in the legislative majority, represents the state’s response to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the national right to abortion. Abortion remains legal in Oregon and must be provided at no cost to the patient because of a 2017 law.
But legislators and others who met in private last summer feared that laws in other states criminalizing abortion would affect Oregon providers. The 46-page bill that resulted focuses on protecting gender-affirming care as well as reproductive rights, both personal medical decisions under attack in Republican-led states.
“A series of basic rights in our country came into question that had decades of precedent behind them,” said Rep. Rob Nosse, D-Portland, as he introduced the measure.
Nosse decried criticism from Republicans, who have focused on tales of young girls obtaining abortions and the regret or medical complications experienced by some people who obtain abortions or gender-affirming care, as “misleading and provocative.” House Speaker Dan Rayfield, a Corvallis Democrat, repeatedly urged Republicans to mind their language and stick to talking about the bill’s provisions. The Oregon measure would protect doctors and other health care providers from losing their licenses or facing other repercussions for providing abortions or gender-affirming care, and it would bar state courts from issuing subpoenas or otherwise helping other states prosecute people who provided care that complies with Oregon laws.
It also would require the state’s Medicaid program and private insurers to cover a range of reproductive and gender-related services, including laser hair removal, tracheal shaves and facial feminization surgery for transgender women.