This week, Deschutes County commissioners in Oregon voted 3-0 to approve changes to the county’s Employee Benefits Plan that will force taxpayers to fund the abortions of county workers and their dependents. The change comes after the state passed a law to close a loophole that had originally allowed Deschutes and another Oregon county to avoid funding abortions.
As reported by KTVZ, in 2017, HB 3391 — the Reproductive Health Equity Act — mandated that insurance providers in Oregon cover abortions, but Deschutes County was exempt from that law because it is self-insured. This year, legislators passed HB 2002, closing the “loophole” that allowed county commissioners to not fund the abortions of county employees.
Following the enactment of HB 2002, county legal staff told Deschutes commissioners that abortion is a state-mandated benefit, and the county’s exclusion of abortion as health care was not in compliance with the law. They said abortion coverage must be included in the health benefits plan for county employees for 2024 because of the passage of HB 2002.
For the previous two years, two of the Deschutes County commissioners,Tony DeBone and Patti Adair, voted against funding the abortions of county employees except in cases of incest, rape, or if there was a risk to the mother’s life. When asked if he would have voted to allow abortion to be covered by the county health insurance plan if HB 2002 were not in place, DeBone said, “No, no, no.”
DeBone told KTVZ that HB 2002 is “kind of an unfunded mandate for a health care plan. So our taxpayers will have to pay a little more. It’s not a big financial step, but it is a philosophical step, in what medical care involves and how it’s paid for.” The estimated cost of adding abortion coverage will be as high as $12,000 and the new health plan will take effect on January 1, 2024.
Commissioner Phil Chang, however, has supported the change. He said, “What we were essentially doing is leaving employees out in the cold, if they determined that someone or someone in their family needed an abortion. We were saying, ‘You can do what you want, but we’re just not going to help you pay for it.'”
He argued that not paying for the abortions would not prevent the abortions, a common but inaccurate pro-abortion argument.
Research shows that when abortion is subsidized by taxpayers, the number of abortions increases. A survey published by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute found that women who have taxpayer-funded abortions tend to have more abortions.
After testifying in favor of the Hyde Amendment, which prevents the government funding of abortions through federal Medicaid, pro-life activist Christina Bennett explained to Live Action News, “You’re encouraging abortion when you make it free [for the client] because, just in general, that’s a sales tactic, making something free. If something is free you’re going to consider it regardless of what it is.”
Induced abortion is not medical care and is not a medically necessary procedure. Every induced abortion is elective, therefore, when a government entity pays for an abortion with taxpayer dollars it is paying for an elective procedure that kills an innocent human being. Even when a pregnancy must end in order to protect the mother’s health or life, killing the preborn child before delivery is not necessary. The child can be delivered and doctors can attempt to save both lives. If saving the child’s life is impossible, palliative care can be provided. No doctor must intentionally kill a baby in order to save his mother.
In addition, when an employer offers to pay for an employee’s abortion, it is a false act of support. Deschutes County health insurance through the end of 2023 does not offer full coverage for the maternity care of its pregnant employees — but now it is being forced to cover abortion in the upcoming year and going forward.
DeBone said, “So, this is the state telling us what to do and how to do it.”
