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In last week’s Saturday Night Live cold open, Maya Rudolph playing Vice President Kamala Harris, said she’s very different from President Joe Biden.
“For example, I’m comfortable saying the word ‘abortion,’” Rudolph (as Harris) said.
It was, of course, a parody. But Harris has made abortion access a key part of her campaign. She recently held a rally in Georgia, a state with some of the nation’s more restrictive abortion laws, where she made reproductive health the central theme and criticized her opponent former President Donald Trump’s stances on the issue.
FILE - Clinic staff listen as Gov. Kate Brown held a joint press conference with Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, reaffirming Oregon’s commitment to abortion access, in this Aug. 25, 2022 file photo, at the Hillman East Portland Health Center.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Even though reproductive health care is playing a big role on the national political stage, in Oregon it’s easy to feel the issue has largely been settled. Oregon has codified the right to access an abortion in state law and established itself as being a sanctuary for those seeking healthcare from more restrictive states. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the national right to access an abortion, people from at least 37 different states have turned to Oregon’s Planned Parenthood clinics for care.
A poll of 600 Oregonians between the ages of 18 and 40 conducted from Aug. 6-12, found the issue of reproductive rights was relatively low on the list of priorities. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4%. Researchers used both phone interviews and online questionnaires to reach respondents, who were selected randomly and with an effort to ensure the survey was representative of Oregon’s demographics.
When young voters were asked what are the most important problems facing Oregon the overwhelming response was homelessness (38%) and after that housing affordability (16%). Near the bottom of the list (1%) was abortion. But when asked how important the issue is when they are considering how to vote in this year’s election, 47% said abortion was extremely important. A large majority (76%) said they believe abortion should be legal, with 44% who think it should be legal in all cases and 31% who think it should be legal in most cases.
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Zachary Reese, who is a 22-year-old college student at Oregon State University, is not one of those people. Reese said he considers abortion murder and thinks it should be prohibited with no exceptions. The mechanical engineering student will be casting his ballot for Trump and appreciates that his Supreme Court justices were crucial in overturning Roe v. Wade. But Trump’s own personal views on abortion are too liberal for him since they include exceptions for rape and incest.
“I’m a devout Catholic so I’m 100% pro-life,” Reese said. It doesn’t matter if the conception was caused by rape, he said. For him, it is an important issue.
On the other end of the political spectrum, Nickolas Veliz, 20, who lives in Cornelius, said he sees the right to access reproductive health care as a human right.
“The right for people to choose to do with their body, that’s a right everyone should have,” Veliz said.
For him, it’s personal, too, both because he has six sisters, he said, but also because he was born female.
“If I were somehow to get pregnant I would not want a child right now and to have that option is reassuring,” he said, noting that people should be taking advantage of Planned Parenthood’s offering of contraceptives.
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Harris has made it clear that she would like to see abortion rights codified into federal law and have the protections from Roe v. Wade reinstated. Trump’s stance has been murkier, with the exception that he’s stated it should be up to the states to vote how they please. Trump has declined to say whether he would sign a federal abortion ban because he didn’t believe Congress would ever pass one — making it a moot point.
For Alexandra Jansky, 28, of Portland, who plans to vote for Harris, access to reproductive health care is the “one of the most important, if not the most important” issue.
Jansky noted there are many ways that reproductive rights could be restricted even in blue states.
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There is one law in particular that reproductive right advocates have started speaking more about lately: the Comstock Act of 1873, which prohibits the mailing or transporting of items across state lines that could be used in abortion care. Some have interpreted that could mean anything used in an abortion from the equipment to the painkillers. It’s a law on the books that could mean massive upheaval for reproductive healthcare across the country if enforced.
“I think it should be scary for all women, even women that live in states like Oregon that our rights are going backwards and that I have fewer rights than my mother did in terms of reproductive healthcare,” Jansky said.