Oregon Late-Term Sex-Selective Abortion Ban (HB 2588)

HB 2588 would prohibit a person from performing a late-term sex-selective abortion in Oregon. The bill defines “late-term sex-selective abortion” to mean “an abortion performed during the third trimester of pregnancy and undertaken solely because of the known or suspected sex of the unborn child.”

This bill is unique in that it specifies that sex-selective abortions may not be performed during the third trimester of pregnancy.

Sex-selection abortions are not a widespread problem in the United States. However, anti-choice activists cite three studies documenting the use of sex-selection abortion primarily among a small number of immigrant women. The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum notes that a ban similar to this ban “targets and thus limits reproductive health access for Asian American & Pacific Islander women, who anti-choicers say are the ones guilty of this abortion practice. We know the real solution to ending the preference for sons in some families is getting to the root of the problem: gender inequity. If lawmakers truly want to help us, we call on them to promote equal pay, access to education, health equity, and ending violence against women.”

Related Legislation

Companion bill to SB 541.

Similar to HB 4070, which failed to pass in 2016.

Similar to HB 2986, HB 3458, and SB 108, all of which failed to pass in 2015.

Similar to HB 3515 and HB 4034, which failed to pass in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

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