(Oregon Right to Life) — Oregon is on track to recognize August 25 as “Adoption Day” thanks to an overwhelming vote by state lawmakers this week. The life-affirming celebration stands in stark contrast to Oregon Democratic Governor Tina Kotek’s declaration weeks earlier to establish March 10 as “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day.”
Oregon lawmakers in the state House of Representatives unanimously passed House Bill 2019 on Tuesday to declare August 25 to be “Oregon Adoption Day.” Republican Representative Lucetta Elmer, the carrier and presenting sponsor of the bipartisan bill, said the date has deep personal significance.
“The day this bill recognizes is not just a date on a calendar: It’s my day. The day I was adopted,” Rep. Elmer said. “The day that forever changed my story, gave me a future, and placed me in the arms of a mother who chose me as her own, and ultimately led me here today, talking to you.”
Elmer said that HB 2019 is “more than a ceremonial bill,” and is meant to create a “moment of acknowledgment for the thousands of Oregonians, children, birth parents, adoptive families, and support systems who walk through the transformative journey of adoption.”
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She spoke about her own birth mother, who she didn’t meet until she was in her thirties. Her voice constricted when she spoke about her mother’s choice not to see, touch, or hold her after giving birth to her, a decision she said her mom made to help her get through the “hardest of choices:” allowing another family to raise her child as their own daughter.
“Adoption is an act of courage,” Elmer said. “It requires sacrifice, selflessness, and a whole lot of faith from all sides. It weaves together lives in ways that reflect the best of our humanity, and it is worthy of recognition.” For Elmer, the establishment of “Oregon Adoption Day” shines “a light on the beauty of adoption” and sends “a message to every adopted child in Oregon: You are seen. You are loved. And you matter.”
Elmer wasn’t alone among legislators in having a personal connection to adoption. Many others shared powerful personal adoption stories, whether related directly to themselves or to their family members.
Republican Representative Dwayne Yunker shared that, like Elmer, he had been adopted as an infant. Others, including Rep. Darcey Edwards, told committee members they have adopted children of their own. Republican Rep. Virgle Osborne, the child of a then-controversial biracial relationship in 1968, said that his mother didn’t tell his father she was pregnant. Instead, she traveled from Arizona to Oregon where she gave birth to him.
“Although some people might call it cowardly that she left and went to another place and had me, she could’ve had an abortion,” Osborne said. “She chose not to have an abortion. And now, I get to be here with all of my colleagues, every day, enjoying this great session, because I was born and not aborted.”
Rep. Jeff Helfrich additionally shared that his father had been adopted, and Rep. Boomer Wright said he has an adopted granddaughter. In his remarks, Republican Rep. Court Boice highlighted the value of adoption, speaking about the 2024 movie Sound of Hope, which spotlighted the inspiring story of nearly two dozen families from a single church who adopted seventy-seven children who had been in the foster care system.
The move to establish August 25 as “Oregon Adoption Day” comes just weeks after Gov. Kotek signed a proclamation declaring March 10 “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day,” sparking pushback from pro-life advocates in Oregon and nationwide.
Oregon Right to Life executive director Lois Anderson and Portland Archbishop Alexander Sample were among those to issue strong statements denouncing the proclamation.
Shortly thereafter, Reps. Boice and Yunker delivered remonstrances from the House floor condemning the “explicit celebration of an industry that profits from the vulnerability of women and the termination of unborn life” and criticizing Kotek’s administration for “turn[ing] a blind eye to the pain, the regret, the irreversible loss suffered by thousands of women who walk into [abortion] clinics… forever changed.”
