A bill expanding Oregon’s shield laws that protect doctors, nurses, midwives, and others who provide abortions and gender-affirming care to out of state patients has passed both chambers in the Oregon Legislature.
The bill, HB 4088, creates additional privacy rights for doctors and patients and makes court petitions for a legal sex change confidential, with some exceptions.
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Ore. on Monday, Feb 2, 2026.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
It passed in the Senate Thursday after a heated debate. Eighteen Democratic senators voted for it, while 12 Republican senators voted against it.
Abortion has long been legal in Oregon without waiting periods or any specific gestational limit. Gender-affirming care is legal too. Minors aged 15 and older can consent to their own medical care, including gender-affirming care and abortion, without needing parental permission.
The new law builds on a shield law Oregon Democrats passed in 2023, which protected providers of abortion and gender-affirming care from civil lawsuits, professional discipline, loss of malpractice insurance or subpoenas for providing care that is legal under state law.
Senate Democrats said it was necessary to strengthen those legal protections in response to escalating peril for doctors who provide abortions and care for transgender patients.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections in 2021, more patients have crossed state lines for care and sought abortion pills by mail.
Prosecutors in Texas and Louisiana have attempted to extradite medical professionals who mailed abortion pills to patients in their states. In Idaho, the state Legislature made it a crime to transport a minor across state lines with the intent of getting an abortion and concealing it from their parents.
The Trump administration has, in executive orders, said it could pursue criminal penalties against doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors, and has issued subpoenas. The administration has also said it plans to scrutinize federal payments for procedures for minors, leading health care providers across the country, including Kaiser Permanente, to halt gender-affirming surgery.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said, to date, she has not received any extradition requests related to reproductive health care services or gender-affirming care.
HB 4088 would prohibit Oregon’s governor from extraditing a person to another state if they were facing prosecution for providing care that is legal in Oregon.
It would also prohibit public agencies from cooperating with federal or out of state investigations into these types of health care, and makes images and telephone numbers of abortion and gender-affirming care providers private and exempt from disclosure under state public records law.
“It ensures patient information remains private and out of the hands of those that want to exploit the lives and medical records of ordinary people seeking medical care for political gain,” said Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin (D-Corvallis).
Republicans, meanwhile, argued that the bill creates a situation where out-of-state parents could be denied access to records that directly concern their child’s health and development.
In social media posts about the bill, Oregon Right to Life has invoked the case of a 15-year-old from Idaho who was allegedly brought to Oregon by her 18-year-old boyfriend and his mother to get an abortion, without her parents’ knowledge.
Republicans also raised the question of evolving professional guidelines, in Europe and in the United States, over when minors should receive puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery.
Most significantly, The American Society of Plastic Surgeons recently recommended that surgeons delay gender-related surgery until a patient is at least 19, citing the low certainty of evidence showing a benefit and the irreversible consequences of surgery for minors.
The group’s statement condemned efforts to criminalize gender-affirming care and said physicians should be allowed to exercise their professional judgement, guided by professional ethics.
On the floor, Republicans attempted to replace the bill with a substitute measure that would have instead directed the Oregon Health Authority to study the long-term outcomes of gender-affirming treatments for minors and report back in 2027.
“Before we expand shield protections, we should understand what is happening to Oregon kids,” said Sen. Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer).
Oregon Democrats pushed back against this recommendation, saying it was not necessary. Ultimately, Republicans lacked the votes to pass their version through.
The bill now goes to the governor for her signature.
In a written statement provided by her spokesman, Kotek said she will use every tool available to protect health care that is legal in Oregon.
“Health care decisions belong between patients and their providers, not politicians and certainly not prosecutors from another state,” she said.
