Oregon state Republicans are slamming a bill from their Democrat colleagues that, among other things, would allow minors to undergo sex reassignment surgery or obtain an abortion without their parent’s permission.
Democrat lawmakers passed House Bill 2002 B on Monday night, along party lines, with a final vote of 36-23.
The Oregon State Capitol (AP Photo / Andrew Selsky / File)
Republicans had sought through various motions to send the bill back to different policy committees, delay the vote until next month, postpone it indefinitely.
GOP lawmakers expressed frustration that House Bill 2002 B had only received one public hearing.
The bill now heads to the state Senate — also in the control of Democrats — where it could be voted on as early as this week before being signed into law by the governor, Tina Kotek.
If enacted, the bill would allow minors younger than 15 to obtain an abortion without parental consent. Doctors would not be compelled to disclose this information to parents unless receiving express written permission from the child.
“This bill represents a new low for Oregon and an even bigger loss for children and parents.”
The legislation would expand taxpayer money to fund gender reassignment surgery – including sterilization for children as young as 15 – without their parent’s consent. Private insurers would also be forced to cover these procedures.
The bill would also mandate that public universities and community colleges with student health centers provide emergency contraception and medication abortion.
House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson of Prineville has called House Bill 2002 B an “egregious violation of the sacred relationship between a parent and a child.”
“As a mom, I can say [with] absolute certainty that the state of Oregon does not know more about the needs of my children better than I do,” she said. “It is insulting and infuriating.”
Democrat lawmakers passed House Bill 2002 B on Monday night, along party lines, with a final vote of 36-23. (Getty Images / File)
Justin Hwang, chairman of the Oregon Republican Party, said, “HB 2002 is what happens when progressive politicians and their far-left base put woke ideology ahead of common sense.”
“This bill represents a new low for Oregon and an even bigger loss for children and parents,” Hwang told Fox News Digital. “Imagine being a father or mother who finds out that their child has made a life-changing decision without any consent or notification.”
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Lois Anderson, Oregon Right to Life executive director, said the procedure by which the bill was passed demonstrates what Oregonians are up against.
“Even though people see us as this big pro-abortion state, the people in Oregon, in polling, they want reasonable limitations even if they consider themselves pro-choice,” she said. “But pro-choice doesn’t mean to most Oregonians this kind of radical policy that we have.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that the bill has been drafted over the past year, coming out of a work group that was convened in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last summer.
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“This bill is the result of a year-long collaboration between dozens of legislators and stakeholders including patients, providers, advocates, community groups, and legal experts. It protects, strengthens, and expands safe, equitable access to reproductive and sex reassignment care – no matter who you are, where you live, or how much money you make,” Democrat Speaker Dan Rayfield said in a news release.
House Democrats said the bill “restores the rights Oregonians had under Roe v. Wade and further protects us from the dangerous Supreme Court Dobbs Decision.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
