By MIA MALDONADO/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon is officially the first state to create a long-term plan to replace Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood if Congress permanently cuts off those funds, lawmakers and health officials said at a ceremonial bill signing.
Gov. Tina Kotek, Democratic state lawmakers and health care professionals gathered at Planned Parenthood in Portland on Wednesday to celebrate three new laws that strengthen access to abortion, gender-affirming care and vaccines in the wake of the Trump administration slashing funding for providers offering those services and cutting vaccine recommendations for children.
Kotek in March signed into law House Bill 4127, which would use state dollars to backfill funding Planned Parenthood has lost since July 2025 when President Donald Trump signed a law blocking the health care provider from receiving Medicaid or Medicare reimbursements until June 30, 2026. The law also creates a contingency plan to pay for Planned Parenthood services should it lose access to Medicaid funding permanently.
[Several other Democratically led states have also approved state funds to fill the gap at Planned Parenthood, including California, Washington, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Maine.]
[In Oregon, long-term funding of Planned Parenthood is not guaranteed, either. The budget must be approved by the state Legislature, which needs to tackle a big revenue gap next year. State officials estimate Oregon will lose $15 billion over the next decade due to the policy changes approved by Congress.]
In this year’s legislative session, Oregon lawmakers secured $7.5 million for the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics, or less than half of the $17 million in Medicaid reimbursements those clinics received in 2024.
For nearly 50 years, federal law has banned the use of Medicaid funds for abortion under a 1977 policy known as the Hyde Amendment. And 90% of what Planned Parenthood clinics in Oregon provide are unrelated to abortion. Doctors at the clinics mostly provide vasectomies, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and screenings for breast and cervical cancer. Planned Parenthood’s Ontario clinic is the only exception. The eastern Oregon clinic is an hour drive from Boise, where Idaho lawmakers in 2022 banned abortion in almost all cases. Planned Parenthood officials said 80% of that clinic’s patients are seeking abortion care from out-of-state.
“At a time when reproductive health care is under relentless attack across our country, Oregon chose to lead,” said Amy Handler, the president of Planned Parenthood of Southern Oregon. “This law reflects something deeply Oregonian. When people’s reproductive health care is threatened, we do not look away. We problem solve, we innovate and we fight to protect our communities.”
Bill sponsor and House Majority Leader Ben Bowman, D-Tigard, said the bill is the first of its kind in the country and reflects Oregon’s tradition of being a national trailblazer.
“What I love about House Bill 4127 is that it continues in this tradition, albeit in a slightly different context,” he said at the event. “This particular big problem, the big problem we solved in this bill was manufactured. It was created by the president and by the United States Congress when they defunded Planned Parenthood.”
Oregon strengthens its shield law, vaccine access
Kotek also celebrated the signing of House Bill 4088, which builds off a 2023 law shielding health care workers who assist with abortion or gender-affirming care in Oregon from lawsuits or professional discipline.
The law adds more legal protections for state employees, midwives and the individuals seeking abortion or gender-affirming care.
It prohibits public employees from assisting federal or out-of-state agencies in investigations into reproductive or gender affirming care activities that are legal in Oregon, including the governor, who under the law cannot extradite someone for receiving that care unless the individual participated in treason or other serious crimes.
It also prohibits the use of personally identifiable information related to reproductive or gender affirming care in most court proceedings, and adds applications for legal sex and name changes to the list of items exempt from public record, with some exceptions.
“The bills before us ensure that Oregon does not sit back to federal attacks that devastate our health care infrastructure,” said Sen. WInsvey Campos, D-Aloha. “Instead, we strengthened our laws and created sustainable paths to protect access to Oregonians across the state.”
Kotek also penned a celebratory signature on Senate Bill 1598, which requires state-regulated health plans to cover specified preventive health services, including vaccines. And, it authorizes the state to make recommendations for services to be covered and to issue standing orders for providers to dispense drugs and devices.
Dr. Jennifer McCall, a Portland primary physician, said it is a difficult time for health care providers to witness the federal government shift guidance on preventive services, disregarding science and people’s safety.
“We spend so much of our time asking patients to invest in prevention, to show up, to be proactive about their health, and then the system turns around and makes that harder than it needs to be,” she said. “It erodes trust in a way that’s, frankly, really hard to rebuild once it’s lost. Senate Bill 1598 is Oregon’s answer to that.”
Oregon in September joined a health advisory alliance with Washington, California and Hawaii following concerns about the credibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic. In January, the alliance split from the federal government’s vaccine recommendations to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ longstanding pediatric vaccine recommendations.
Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit Salem-based news service that focuses its reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy.
