(Oregon Right to Life) — Oregon Right to Life Executive Director Lois Anderson shared the organization’s vision for a pro-life Oregon in a comprehensive podcast interview with Oregon Republican state Senator Bruce Starr published last month.
Anderson joined Senator Starr, who represents Oregon’s District 12 encompassing rural Polk and Yamhill Counties, for an episode of the senator’s podcast that was posted to YouTube on May 19.
“One of the underlying themes of our conversation this morning is: We don’t give up,” Starr told Anderson, who celebrated her 25th year with Oregon Right to Life in 2024 after more than a decade working in conservative politics.
The “Starr Chamber” podcast episode, which touched on Anderson and Starr’s early acquaintance as college students at Portland State University, also addressed the status of politics in Oregon and the challenge of being a consistent pro-life voice while facing ongoing headwinds in a state where abortion is legal up to the moment of birth for any reason.
Oregon Right to Life consistently introduces and supports pro-life legislation, despite the fact that Oregon’s pro-choice Democratic majority refuses to consider the bills.
“Every session, Oregon Right to Life introduces pro-life legislation,” Starr noted. “What’s the point?”
“I think the point is offering an alternative,” Anderson said. She added that it’s “important to show Oregonians, voters, constituents, that these bills are actually the kinds of things that we’re going to work on if you put pro-life people in charge of Oregon.”
Bills introduced by Oregon Right to Life include legislation to protect pain-capable unborn babies (at about 15 weeks gestation) and to ensure life-saving medical care for babies who survive abortion attempts. To date, the bills have not advanced out of committee. Oregon Right to Life continues to propose the legislation – and rally the support of pro-life lawmakers – as part of its ongoing effort to represent the interests of the most vulnerable.
“I sincerely, fundamentally believe that Oregon is going to be in a better place [under pro-life leadership] for a whole host of reasons, and this is one of them,” Anderson said. “We’re going to take steps to protect life.”
Anderson said Oregon Right to Life’s theme for legislative action has centered on the phrase: Support Her. Protect Them.
“We have a holistic viewpoint where it’s about support[ing] moms and understanding that they need support throughout pregnancy [and] after pregnancy, and protecting the life of the unborn child,” Anderson said. “Right now, in Oregon, that right to life before birth is abridged.”
READ: Support Her. Protect Them. A Closer Look at Oregon’s 2025 Pro-Life Bills
Oregon was among the first states to legalize abortion when it passed legislation in 1969 permitting abortions under certain circumstances. Today, it is one of a minority of states that allows elective abortions at any stage of pregnancy – including well after a baby can survive outside the womb.
That political landscape makes Oregon an especially challenging place to push for pro-life protections. Anderson said Oregon Right to Life’s approach is calibrated to reach people within Oregon’s uniquely pro-abortion culture.
“We want to work to bring awareness… and then to work toward policies that are broadly supported, even by people that maybe consider themselves to be pro-choice,” she said. “That’s our approach, realizing that politics is the art of the possible.”
Envisioning what a future for Oregon could look like, Anderson told Starr she defines “a culture of life as an Oregon where life-saving, life-sustaining, life-affirming decisions are supported.”
“I want to live in a place like that. It’s a place where human beings flourish, where families flourish in a whole host of ways,” she said. “And it really does start with how we view each other. What’s your value to our culture? You have infinite value. Everybody has infinite value, whether you’re three months old in utero, or whether you’re [a] three month old baby, or whether you’re 90 years old.”
Polling consistently shows that the majority of Americans – including those who identify as pro-choice – believe there should be at least some limits on legal abortion.
A nationwide Knights of Columbus-Marist survey published in January found that 72% of respondents, across political divides, believe abortion should be restricted at six months of pregnancy or earlier, and 60% think it should only be legal in the first three months.
When given a binary choice, 67% rejected a position like Oregon’s that puts no limits whatsoever on abortion.
