The Oregon House passed a bill on Monday which would allow minors of any age to receive abortions without parental consent and expands insurance coverage for “gender-affirming care,” including facial feminization surgery and hair-removal procedures.
The bill passed by a vote of 36-23 and will head to the state Senate, where Democrats hold 17 of the 30 seats.
Oregon already had permissive abortion laws which did not restrict the procedure with respect to the age of the fetus, and private health-insurance plans in the state must cover abortions without out-of-network costs. The Oregon bill, House Bill 2002, allows minors—including those under 15 —to obtain an abortion without parental consent. The bill further requires health-care centers at community colleges and public universities to provide enrolled students with access to “emergency contraception and medication abortion.”
The bill prevents doctors from losing their licenses for providing abortions and gender-related treatments. A total of 9,640 abortions were performed in Oregon in 2017, though not all were provided to state residents.
House Bill 2002 defines “Gender-affirming treatment” as “a procedure, service, drug, device or product that a physical or behavioral health care provider prescribes to treat an individual for incongruence between the individual’s gender identity and the individual’s sex assignment at birth.” The bill prohibits insurers from denying gender-related treatments deemed “medically necessary” by a “physical or behavioral health care provider.” Additionally, insurers may not exclude coverage of a “cosmetic service” deemed “medically necessary,” including facial feminization surgeries, tracheal shaves, and hair-removal procedures.
The bill also requires insurance plans to cover “Revisions to prior forms of gender-affirming treatment.” The director of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services sent a letter to Oregon House Speaker Dan Rayfield stating that the department will clarify that the bill does require insurance companies to cover de-transition surgeries.
Under the bill, minors under 15 cannot be voluntarily sterilized, which would prohibit them from receiving some gender-related treatments.