Oregon’s legislative Democrats are once again looking for ways to strengthen abortion access in the wake of federal funding cuts to abortion providers.
Oregon already has some of the strongest abortion protections in the country. The state has no restrictions on how far along a person must be in their pregnancy to get an abortion, and the state requires that most health insurance providers cover an abortion at no cost to a patient.
But after President Donald Trump signed a federal budget law that defunds Planned Parenthood by cutting access to Medicaid reimbursements, Democrats in the Oregon House of Representatives are forming a work group focused on brainstorming ways to reimburse Oregon’s Planned Parenthood affiliates for the services they provide.
Despite lawsuits against the new rule, Planned Parenthood affiliates across the U.S. as of Sept. 12 are blocked from receiving Medicaid reimbursements after a federal three-judge panel ruled the Trump administration can enforce its provision in the massive spending and tax bill blocking reimbursements.
Planned Parenthood affiliates in Oregon relied on nearly $17 million in Medicaid reimbursements in the 2024 fiscal year, Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette CEO Sara Kennedy told the Capital Chronicle. None of that federal funding could be used for abortions under longstanding federal policy that blocks government funding for abortion services, but it paid for cancer screenings, treating sexually transmitted diseases, birth control and gynecological services for low-income people.
“The Trump administration and the Republican Party are trying to strip away access to abortion,” House Majority Leader Ben Bowman D-Tigard, said in a statement. “We will not let that happen in Oregon. Planned Parenthood is a critical provider of health care in this state and we will fight to protect them from these attacks.”
Bowman will sit in the work group alongside Reps. Andrea Valderrama, D-Portland; April Dobson, D-Happy Valley and Sue Rieke Smith, D-King City. Senate members include Sen. Deb Patterson, D-Salem and Sen. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Aloha. The work group will also include representatives from Oregon Planned Parenthood affiliates.
“There are significant budget implications of H.R. 1 that will impact Oregonians’ access to healthcare,” Valderrama told the Capital Chronicle, referring to the federal tax and spending law. “This work group will focus on determining what, if any, policy changes are necessary to create a sustainable funding mechanism and accountability framework that ensures Planned Parenthood can keep its doors open in Oregon and that Oregonians can maintain access to their healthcare.”
The lawmakers in the work group will meet in early October, Valderrama said. The group will then present a report of their findings and legislative recommendations ahead of the 2026 legislative session.
Oregon Democratic lawmakers put together a similar work group offering recommendations in 2023 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
That work group published a 22-page report calling for training community health workers, updating the state’s webpages to communicate the state’s abortion laws and where people can receive care. Recommendations from the work group also resulted in a 2023 law protecting doctors from prosecution for providing gender-affirming care and abortion care.
Oregon Right to Life Executive Director Lois Anderson criticized the new work group.
“Lawmakers should be focused on lifting up Oregon moms and families with life-affirming solutions,” she said in a statement. “But Oregon Democrats and their allies at Planned Parenthood once again showed where their priorities lie: promoting America’s biggest abortion corporation and defending Oregon’s radical position of legal abortion up to the moment of birth.”
Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide abortions up until birth. It will provide abortions up to the second trimester based on the health of pregnant — and that’s in rare cases, Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette spokesperson Kristi Scdoris told the Capital Chronicle. Additionally, most of what Planned Parenthood does is unrelated to abortion. In 2024, abortions made up 4% of Planned Parenthood’s 9.4 million services, according to the national nonprofit’s annual report. Over half of those services were dedicated to testing and treating sexually transmitted infections, followed by birth control services.
By Mia Maldonado of news partner Oregon Capital Chronicle
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com