Wyden, Merkley slam 'baseless' federal investigation into Oregon abortion coverage requirement

Oregon has required health insurers to cover abortion at no cost to patients since 2017

Oregon's U.S. senators are calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to drop a "needless and wasteful" investigation into Oregon and other states that require health insurers to cover abortion.

In a letter sent Friday to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and shared with the Capital Chronicle, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley responded to the agency's recent announcement that officials planned to investigate 13 states that require health insurers to cover abortion.

"Upon reviewing this alarming inquiry, I must ask why the Trump administration is meddling in state laws regarding health care, especially when Oregonians have been abundantly clear on a matter that should have no interaction with the federal government," the pair wrote.

Oregon's 2017 Reproductive Health Equity Act requires most insurance plans to cover reproductive care, including abortion, at no out-of-pocket cost for patients.

One of the state's largest insurers, Providence, is exempt from that requirement because it didn't cover abortion in 2017, as are health insurance plans purchased by religious employers that choose not to include abortion coverage because of their religious beliefs. People covered by those plans can use the Oregon Health Authority's Abortion Access Plan.

Oregonians have long supported reproductive health care, including by electing legislative majorities who support abortion rights and rejecting every ballot measure that attempts to limit abortion access. Nearly two-thirds of voters rejected the most recent, a 2018 proposed constitutional amendment to ban the use of public funds to pay for abortion.

The federal investigation announced last week relies on the Weldon Amendment, a federal law enacted annually since 2005 that bars funding for federal, state or local agencies that "discriminate" against health insurance plans, health care institutions or health care professionals that refuse to provide, pay for or cover abortions. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind the Project 2025 blueprint, floated the idea of withholding Medicaid funding from states because of the Weldon Amendment.

The senators wrote that the investigation undermines states' rights in Oregon and the 12 other states that require abortion coverage: California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington.

"Oregon will not be bullied by a federal department attempting to impose its ideological agenda on our local health care system," they wrote. "We will fiercely defend our laws, our health care providers and our residents' right to access essential medical care with the utmost privacy and respect."

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This article was originally published by Oregon Capital Chronicle and used with permission. Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom and can be reached at info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com.