Oregon Bill Would Protect Anyone Who Helps Kill Babies in Abortions
Oregon legislators introduced a broad bill on Monday that would increase unique legal protections for abortion providers. Presented with little public notice, limiting opponents’ time to react, HB 4088 would further entrench Oregon’s position as an abortion tourism destination, placing women and girls at risk and undermining state laws designed to protect children and unborn babies. Oregon Right to Life strongly opposes HB 4088.
As written, HB 4088 would expand protected interstate actions under Oregon’s existing 2023 shield law (HB 2002) to include “any person who provides or attempts to provide aid, assistance, resources, encouragement or support to a person in providing or receiving or attempting to provide or receive reproductive health care or gender-affirming treatment.”
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It also further solidifies immunity from out-of-state legal interference. According to the text of the legislation, HB 4088 would “[prohibit] cooperation with law enforcement agencies of the federal government or other states in actions involving legally-protected reproductive or gender-affirming health care activities… if such activity would be lawful if it occurred entirely in this state,” including abortions and gender-related surgeries and treatments. Abortion and gender services are legal for children ages 15 and older in Oregon without mandatory parental permission or notification, even though other states prohibit such irreversible interventions for minors.
By further expanding protections for abortion providers, HB 4088 would increase barriers that could foreseeably delay or complicate the prosecution of actual crimes against minors, women, and unborn babies, in situations involving abortion and interstate travel – particularly in cases regarding the transportation of minors across state lines for abortion or gender services.
“It is women and girls who deserve the greatest protection under the law, not corporations that profit from abortion,” Oregon Right to Life executive director Lois Anderson said. “Oregon law enforcement should be equipped to fully cooperate with federal and interstate partners, especially in abortion or gender-related cases across state lines. These cases can involve coercion, kidnapping, evasion of parental rights, or even human trafficking. Shielding abortion providers and individuals who aid in the procurement of abortions and gender services blunts these efforts, setting up unnecessary roadblocks that can stall or even thwart the prosecution of criminal activity.”
In addition to opposing the content of the bill, Anderson criticized the manner in which it was presented.
Fifteen witnesses gave testimony in support of HB 4088 during the public hearing on the first day of the legislative session, suggesting that backers of the bill were notified in time to organize a comprehensive campaign of support. With very limited public notice, Oregon Right to Life and other opponents conversely had little time to respond.
“Pro-abortion lawmakers worked behind the scenes to introduce this dangerous and unnecessary bill on day one of the legislative session, packing the public hearing with hand-picked witnesses to show HB 4088 in the best possible light while effectively preventing the presentation of significant opposing testimony,” Anderson said. “We are committed to pushing back against this legislation and urging lawmakers to ensure that the rights and safety of patients – not abortion facilities – are prioritized here in Oregon.”
Dozens of individuals submitted written testimony opposing the bill. In their remarks, they raised serious concerns about HB 4088’s broad reach and dangerous implications.
“Because this measure establishes a unique legal environment for reproductive and gender-related services, restricts cooperation with out-of-state and federal investigations, limits access to medical records, and extends immunity not only to providers—but those that ‘assist’ or ‘attempt’ to provide care, HB 4088 opens the door to serious legal ambiguity and risk,” Republican state Rep. Bobby Levy said in written testimony submitted to the House Judiciary Committee. “From a legal and healthcare systems perspective—HB 4088 creates a mess. It blurs boundaries and weakens the clear regulatory frameworks, consistent standards of care, and transparent accountability our healthcare providers rely on.”
“HB 4088 provides greater protection than that afforded to almost any other medical service,” Sister Veronica Schueler, FSE, Director of the Oregon Catholic Conference wrote to committee members. “We are deeply concerned about the bill’s overreach. While privacy and confidentiality for all patients are bedrock principles within our healthcare systems, they should not come at the expense of protecting abuse, malpractice, or harm to individuals… This law would also make it more difficult to protect the victims of human trafficking and domestic violence who can be forced to have abortions.”
Brick Lantz, M.D, M.A. (Bioethics), national director of the American Academy of Medical Ethics, Vice President of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), and a member of the Oregon Medical Association (OMA) who has practiced in Oregon for 34 years, said “HB 4088 does not follow current evidence and ethics.”
“It does not help patient safety and will allow abuse. Protection of patients and healthcare professionals comes from accountability, upholding parental rights, collecting good medical data, and following the rule of law,” Lantz testified. “This bill was rushed into a hearing with little notification… Healthcare should be trustworthy and it appears you are trying to hide the data, providing immunity when harm can be done, limiting disclosure of medical practice, and not cooperating with other branches of government. This implies you are planning not on appropriate healthcare but on ideology. I would hope for more open dialogue on issues in which so much divisiveness exists.”
“HB 4088 flagrantly promotes trafficking of individuals, including minors, across state lines from surrounding states in order to obtain abortions or gender transition procedures and shields those who provide, aid, or abet these dangerous practices from accountability,” wrote Erica O’Connell, Legal Counsel II for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). “This shield law expansion undermines the fundamental right of parents, undermining their ability to protect their children from dangerous abortions and gender transition procedures… HB 4088 is an affront to state laws that protect vulnerable women and children.”
The proposed legislation comes as Oregon has increasingly become a destination for “abortion tourism” following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. There were 1,861 abortions in Oregon for women residing out-of-state in 2024, up from 1,661 in 2023 and 1,036 in 2022. HB 4088 would increase this trend and provide unwarranted protections for abortion providers and those who assist in obtaining abortions and controversial gender services, creating a policy landscape that would empower bad actors – including coercive partners and family members or even human traffickers – jeopardizing women, girls, and the unborn.
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