Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed into law Tuesday legislation that dramatically expands abortion access for all women regardless of ability to pay or citizenship status.
Brown hailed the law as the most progressive abortion legislation in history, the AP reports. It requires that all taxpayers, save a small minority eligible for religious exemptions, fund free abortions for anyone, for any reason, at any time. The law also provides for STI tests, cancer screenings, vasectomies and other reproductive health services.
Oregon Senate Republican communications director Jonathan Lockwood pointed out the law also allows for sex selective and late term abortions in a statement provided to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Everyone in America needs to see Oregon’s former late-term abortion lobbyist governor Kate Brown just forced Oregonians to fund against their will late-term and sex-selective abortions. Watch out, this is coming to a state near you,” the statement reads.
The law mandates that insurers offer a plethora of reproductive services free of cost to anyone and provides $10 million in additional state Medicaid funding to offset the cost. It allocates $500,000 specifically toward providing coverage to immigrants that don’t qualify under Oregon’s Health Plan. (RELATED: Oregon Insurance Companies May Soon Be Required To Cover Cost Of Abortions)
Brown celebrated the legislation, which was introduced in response to the anticipated repeal and replacement of Obamacare, as the first to specifically combat systemic barriers to accessing reproductive care.
Democratic state Sen. Laurie Anderson defended the then-bill on the grounds that unintended pregnancies perpetuate poverty, in response to the legislation’s passage through the state legislature on July 5.
“Unintended pregnancies can perpetuate cycles of poverty, and we can help stop it. It is a woman’s right to choose when and if she is ready in her life to have a child,” Anderson, who is also a public health nurse, told the NY Post.
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