A smiling Oregon Gov. Kate Brown held a sign proclaiming “Pro-Freedom, Pro-Justice, Pro-Choice” Oct. 17 while calling for the state to continue forcing taxpayers to pay for women’s elective abortions.
Brown joined abortion activists with NARAL for a rally against Measure 106, a ballot initiative that would allow voters to decide if they want their tax dollars to fund abortions, the AP reports.
Grayson Dempsey, executive director of NARAL Oregon, called their state the “north star of abortion access” because it has no restrictions on abortion.
“In many ways, Oregon is the North Star when it comes to reproductive rights and abortion access, and if we, in this election, were to lose, it would be incredibly emboldening to the anti-abortion movement,” Dempsey said. “It’s really scary to me to know that we have one of the most serious threats to abortion in Oregon in my lifetime.”
Oregon is one of 17 states that forces taxpayers to fund elective abortions. The state has no abortion restrictions, so tax dollars pay for unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to birth. In 2017, Brown signed a bill expanding taxpayer-funded abortions to illegal immigrants and government employees.
But on Nov. 6, voters will have the opportunity to decide if they want that to continue.
Measure 106 will ask voters if they want to amend the state constitution with the following language: “The state shall not spend public funds for any abortion, except when medically necessary or as may be required by federal law.”
Here’s more from the report:
Voters rejected similar funding bans in 1978 and 1986. A measure requiring parental notification before a minor’s abortion failed in 2006, when today’s newest voters were in grade school.
“I’m 24 and so I haven’t actually ever been able to vote on something like this before. There is a huge, new crop of voters who haven’t had a chance to vote on where their tax dollars are going,” said Nichole Bentz, a spokeswoman for Measure 106. “We’re not banning abortion at all. We’re just talking about who’s paying for abortions.” …
It’s also the only state where no additional restrictions on abortion access have been added by voters or state lawmakers since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure in 1973, Dempsey said.
Earlier this fall, Brown claimed the ballot measure is an “attack on health care” and promised to fight against it.
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“[Measure 106] would set a dangerous precedent by cherry-picking which medical procedures public insurance will and won’t cover,” Brown said. “It would take abortion coverage away from women on the Oregon Health Plan. It would take coverage away from state employees.”
Abortion is not health care. It is the intentional killing of a unique, living human child.
About 3,700 unborn babies’ abortion deaths were paid for by Oregon taxpayers in fiscal year 2015-2016, or about 10 per day, according to the Oregon Health Authority. In 2017, taxpayers paid $2 million for about 3,600 unborn babies’ abortion deaths, according to the AP.
Polls consistently show that most Americans do not want their tax dollars to pay for abortions. A 2016 Marist poll found that two-thirds of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortions, including a majority of women and people who identify as pro-choice. A 2016 Politico/Harvard University poll also found that just 36 percent of likely voters support taxpayer funding for abortions, while 58 percent oppose it.
West Virginians will vote on a similar ballot question in November. State taxpayers there have paid $10 million for about 35,000 unborn babies’ abortion deaths.
