While the U.S. Supreme Court was taking on yet another high-profile argument regarding abortion, on Tuesday, March 26, the Oregon Health Authority launched a website explaining details of reproductive rights in this state.
The Reproductive Health Program at the Oregon Health Authority debuted the new website , designed to make it easier for people to seek abortion care information and services in Oregon.
“As challenges to women’s reproductive freedom mount across the country, OHA remains staunchly committed to protecting access to the full range of reproductive health care — including and especially abortion, fertility services and contraception — for all those who live in and visit our state,” said Dr. Sejal Hathi, Health Authority director. “The foundation of access is knowledge: of your rights, of available services, of the nuts and bolts of obtaining care. This website takes us one step closer to sharing that knowledge, and enabling greater access to protected care.”
The site includes web pages and links with current information about accessing abortion services in Oregon, including information about abortions; legal rights and privacy; where to get an abortion; ways to pay for reproductive health care; and the Abortion Access Plan , the Health Authority’s program to cover abortion services for people who have health insurance through Providence, or whose religious employers provide insurance that does not cover abortion.
One link on the site includes “abortion support,” include resources for travel and other related benefits, as well as resources related to emotional support before, during and after an abortion.
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in a case that seeks to limit access to mifepristone, a medication used in more than 60 percent of U.S. abortions. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, mifepristone blocks a hormone called progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. Mifepristone, when used with another medicine called misoprostol, is used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks’ gestation.
According to the KFF, an independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism, the FDA initially approved mifepristone with some conditions on who and how it can be dispensed in 2000.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturned decades of federal protection for abortion rights as outlined in the 1973 case, Roe v. Wade.
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