The Oregon Health Authority has launched a website where residents and non-residents can get fact-based information about abortion services and individual rights.
The website is called Abortion Access in Oregon. It comes amidst continued dialogue about abortion rights and legislative moves to ban the procedure in states across the nation.
“We want to make it very clear that abortion remains safe and legal within Oregon," said OHA’s Interim Public Health Director Cara Biddlecom. "So that anybody within our state who’s seeking services or chooses to come to Oregon can understand where services are available and what their rights are.”
The website includes a section on “Paying for an Abortion.” It explains how the Oregon Health Plan covers abortions for residents up to a certain income level, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. Also featured on the site designed by OHA’s Reproductive Health Program is the section “Abortion Access Plan,” which describes OHA’s program to cover service costs for people whose religious employers provide insurance that does not cover abortion.
Oregon has some of the strongest protections for abortion in the country. Biddlecom points to coverage for abortion services without cost-sharing that is built into the state’s legislative framework. Oregon’s Reproductive Health Equity Act “requires Oregon private health insurance plans to cover abortions with no out-of-pocket costs," she said. "Also, it covers abortion services for individuals who would otherwise be eligible for medical assistance if not for their immigration status.”
