Oregon may color blue on a political map but countless Oregonians are deeply pro-life. We are also blessed to have a good number of strongly pro-life legislators in our state legislature.
Thanks to 19 of them, the House Committee on Health Care was set to hold a public hearing on Sept. 28. The purpose of the meeting was to get to the bottom of Oregon Planned Parenthood businesses’ involvement in the fetal tissue procurement “industry.”
In a press release, the 19 legislators wrote, “Verbal assurances from those who may be violating the law are simply not good enough. Since Planned Parenthood’s national CEO has said that she ‘looks forward to the facts coming out,’ a hearing before your committee is the most direct means of assuring such disclosure.”
Chair Rep. Mitch Greenlick responded to The Oregonian, “I strongly support Planned Parenthood. I think they do a fantastic job, and I want to get on the record about what they do do instead of swirling innuendos about what’s going on.”
Just when some democracy was about to rear its head in Oregon, Speaker Tina Kotek (endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon) ordered Rep. Greenlick cancel the hearing.
“I follow orders,” Greenlick said to The Oregonian.
“I am a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood and have seen zero evidence to support the allegations that their opponents have drummed up in recent weeks,” Kotek said in a statement.
Rep. Bill Post, one of the legislators pushing for the hearings told LifeNews: “I am extremely disappointed that House Speaker Tina Kotek and the House Democrats decided that holding public hearings was apparently not important the rest of Oregon. If Planned Parenthood and OHSU have nothing to hide, then why not have the hearings? Oregonians deserve to know the truth about ties financially and otherwise between Planned Parenthood and OHSU.”
Additional information has come out about fetal tissue procurement occurring in Oregon. After the Center for Medical Progress videos confirmed that Oregon abortionists are providing Advanced Biomedical Research with baby parts, Planned Parenthood director Cecile Richards specified that Oregon Health and Science University receives placentas from a local affiliate. The Statesman Journal identified Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette as the affiliate.
With these confirmations, it is clear that Planned Parenthood is engaging in the fetal tissue procurement “industry” in Oregon. There are zero restrictions on abortion in Oregon so it is vital that some oversight take place in light of the CMP videos.
The pro-life legislators are considering where to go from here. One thing is for sure: pro-life legislators and voters in Oregon won’t let this issue die like the 8,231 children who died from legal abortion last year.
