Last year, I shared on my blog about the petition to stop taxpayer funding for elective and late-term abortions in my home state of Oregon. I’m happy to say that volunteers gathered 150,000 signatures to get Measure 106 on the ballot this November. Oregon is the only state in the U.S. without any laws that restrict or limit abortion, and one of only a handful of states that chooses to use taxpayer money to pay for elective abortions. Here’s more information about the measure and how it would change that:

Measure 106 doesn’t stop anyone from choosing an abortion, but it will give Oregon taxpayers freedom from having to pay for other people’s personal choices.

Why vote Yes? Here’s what Oregon voters need to know:

1. Oregon House Bill 3391, signed into law by Governor Kate Brown in 2017, was a multi-million dollar bill that significantly expanded taxpayer funding for abortion. State lawmakers declared HB 3391 to be an emergency, preventing it from being referred to the public for a vote.
2. The Oregon Health Authority reports $24.4 million in taxpayer money was spent on more than 57,000 abortions covered under the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) since 2002. That’s about 10 taxpayer-funded abortions every day.
3. Today, anyone covered by OHP can have an unlimited number of free abortions, for any reason and at any stage of pregnancy — even late-term abortions when the baby is perfectly healthy.

Oregon voters, this November you have a voice. Vote YES on Ballot Measure 106 to stop your tax dollars from funding elective and late-term abortions.  It’s your money, and now it’s your choice.

I encourage you to read through the following perspectives from Diane Meyer, a close friend of ours, which she wrote in support of Measure 106. Diane lived with us when our daughters were small and she was a young unwed mother. We had the joy of seeing her come to Christ, and helped her place a baby for adoption.

I can’t express how deeply Nanci and I respect Diane. She’s a courageous and insightful voice who deserves to be heard:

My story: Why I’m voting YES on Measure 106

When I was seventeen, I became pregnant, but I had no desire to become a mother, and quite honestly, I was terrified of labor pain.

Because I was six months pregnant, my abortion took place at a Portland hospital. I was placed on a cot, alongside a dozen other young women, in a basement ward. There, we each received a saline injection in our abdomen to expel our unborn children.

I will never be able to forget the horrific sights and sounds burned into my mind that day. After a few hours of painful labor, we all began losing our babies. I felt a violent lurching sensation as the baby slid from my body and then I saw my child—a small, still huddled form covered in blood laying on the white sheet of my cot.

When I left the hospital, I determined to put this horrible episode behind me, never thinking about it again, never talking about it. I became pregnant again and decided to give my second baby up for adoption. I was in awe when I gave birth to a healthy baby boy, grateful that a childless couple wanted to care for him.  

I wish my story ended there, but filled with shame, I aborted one more time. The Lord has forgiven me, but even after forty years, the weight of loss still feels unbearable at times. I think about who my children might have been, children that I lost to “choice.” The hurt and sadness is so heavy that I still weep for those babies that I never knew.

Mother Teresa once said, “The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.” In Oregon, we require that taxpayers fund this destruction. We are paying for anguish, sorrow, and deep regret.

Please vote YES on Measure 106 for compassionate care for Oregon’s women.

Three other women share their personal stories and perspectives in this video by Women for 106:

Pro-abortion efforts to oppose Measure 106 are substantial. Jeff Jimerson, director or Oregon Life United PAC, wrote recently, “According to public records, opponents of Measure 106 have raised more than $2.1 million to try to defeat us. This includes contributions from many out-of-state Planned Parenthood-affiliated organizations such as $150,000 from New York, $100,000 from Virginia, $50,000 from California, and $50,000 from Hawaii. Their largest donor, a Washington D.C.-based organization called Sixteen Thirty Fund, has given $585,000. From a fundraising perspective, this very much feels like a David and Goliath sort of battle.”

I echo what EPM board member Kathy Norquist writes: “Would you pray that God would touch the hearts of the believers in Oregon to vote and to encourage every member of their family to vote for Measure 106? Satan is alive and well and there is much deception surrounding this battle. We need Goliath-size prayers on behalf of the unborn and their moms.”

Oregonians, let’s join together to love our neighbor by protecting these human lives in our state. And whether you live in Oregon or not, we can all pray for the unborn and their mothers, and also pray for divine appointments where God can use us to make a difference in people’s lives.

For more on abortion and the sanctity of life, see Randy’s books Why ProLife? and ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments.