SALEM, Ore. — Today, March 10th, marks the second annual occurrence of Oregon’s “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day,” proclaimed last year by Oregon’s Democratic Governor Tina Kotek. Oregon Right to Life reiterates its strong opposition to the proclamation, calling attention to the humanity of the unborn, the violent reality of abortion, and the serious risks that abortion poses to women.
“Under Governor Kotek’s watch, late-term abortions have more than tripled in our state. But instead of working to reduce the number of abortions, Kotek and her allies have consistently acted to increase it,” Oregon Right to Life Executive Director Lois Anderson pointed out. “During this past legislative session, Oregon Democrats pushed through controversial and dangerous legislation to create permanent taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and shield from accountability anyone who provides or assists in providing abortions. Despite strong opposition from pro-life voices, including medical professionals, these bills were passed.”
“As Governor Kotek and Democrats celebrate, praise, and use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion providers, let’s look past the rhetoric and be very clear about what they are promoting: Abortion ends the lives of developing human beings through violent surgical procedures or lethal drugs,” Anderson said. “In addition to this violence to the unborn, abortion places women at risk of serious mental, emotional, and physical health outcomes. And the recent increase in prescriptions of chemical abortion drugs means heightened dangers of severe adverse events as well as coercion and forced abortions. That’s simply not health care. And it’s certainly nothing to celebrate.”
- Legal abortions are performed via either surgical or chemical means. Surgical abortions are carried out using suctioning, induced cardiac arrest, poisoning, or dismemberment, then employing surgical tools or vacuums to violently remove the remains from the uterus. Chemical abortions, which now account for well over half of all abortions, are carried out by starving the developing human being of the growth hormone progesterone, then inducing contractions in the mother.
- A 2025 Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) study found the adverse reaction rate associated with the abortion drug mifepristone to be over one in ten (10.93%), twenty-two times the one currently listed on its official FDA label. The same study found an abortion pill-related emergency room visit rate of nearly one in 20 (4.7%), prompting renewed calls for a restoration of legal restrictions on the distribution of the drug.
- Oregon abortion providers at facilities like Lilith Clinic and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) – representatives of which attended the signing of Kotek’s proclamation last year – perform abortions well past fetal “viability.” According to Abortion Finder, OHSU performs surgical abortions through 34 weeks gestation, a stage at which the unborn baby’s internal organs are almost fully developed, and he or she can feel pain, dream, and survive outside the womb.
- Abortion is currently legal up to the moment of birth in Oregon, with no gestational limits, mandatory waiting periods, or even parental notification requirements for girls as young as 15. Girls under the age of 15 can legally get abortions if the provider believes that notifying her parents would cause harm. This is out of touch with the vast majority of states (including California) as well as all progressive nations globally, which all at least have limits at or before viability.
- Recent Oregon Health Authority data indicates that abortion providers carried out 9,860 abortions in 2024. While that number is down slightly from the 10,075 performed in 2023, late-term abortions continue to increase, with Oregon providers performing 284 abortions at or after 23 weeks gestation in 2024 compared to 225 in 2023 and just 85 in 2022. Abortions performed in Oregon for women traveling from out-of-state also continue to rise, with 1,861 abortions reported for out-of-state women in 2024 compared to 1,661 in 2023. States with pro-life laws (including Idaho) protect the unborn as well as the mother, and allow doctors to act to protect the mother’s life. No state outlaws medical care to treat ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage.
While Governor Kotek has chosen to celebrate abortion providers, Oregon Right to Life honors those who have made the decision to step away from their professions upon recognizing the humanity of the unborn and the injustice of abortion.
One such former abortion provider is Dr. Kathi Aultman, a retired Board-Certified OB/GYN who performed over 500 abortions before becoming a prominent advocate for the unborn. Dr. Aultman was one of the keynote speakers at Oregon Right to Life’s pro-life conference, Together We Advocate, in 2025. After leaving her career, Dr. Aultman has advocated extensively on behalf of the most vulnerable and has worked with pro-life news and advocacy organization Live Action to create a video explaining the reality of surgical abortion in accurate detail. The video and others like it have helped countless people recognize the reality of abortion and come to oppose it.
A pro-life organization that helps abortion workers leave the industry, And Then There Were None, reports assisting more than 700 abortion workers like Aultman quit their jobs across 48 states and Washington, D.C.
Advocates for women and the unborn in Oregon are actively working to promote the availability of life-affirming resources and alternatives for abortion-vulnerable moms and families. Pro-life Oregon lawmakers consistently introduce legislation to protect pain-capable unborn babies and babies who survive abortion attempts.
Oregon Right to Life believes in the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death. Abortion ends the life of a genetically distinct, growing human being. We oppose abortion at any point of gestation. In rare cases, a mother may have a life threatening condition in which medical procedures intended to treat the condition of the mother may result in the unintended death of her preborn baby. At the same time, ORTL recognizes that modern medical practice has and will continue to increase the ability to save both the life of the mother and the baby. Read this and all our position statements here.
