Following a proclamation from Oregon Governor Tina Kotek that March 10 would henceforth be “Abortion Provider Appreciation Day,” Archbishop Alexander Sample has described the decision as a moment “when you realize just how far culture can drift from reality.”
“The idea that those who make a living ending innocent, unborn life should be publicly honored. Thanked. Applauded. This isn’t just moral confusion. It’s something deeper,” Sample, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oregon, wrote in a March 13 pastoral teaching on the sanctity of life.
“A kind of spiritual blindness so thick that what should be self-evident – the sheer wonder and worth of a human life – is obscured entirely,” Sample said.
Kotek, signing the proclamation March 10, touted Oregon as a safe haven for abortion.
“Here in Oregon, we understand that abortion is health care, and providers are appreciated and can continue to provide care without interference and intimidation,” Kotek said in a statement. “To our providers and to the patients who live in Oregon or have been forced to retreat to our state for care, know that I continue to have your back.
According to data from the Oregon Health Authority, there were 10,075 abortions performed in the state in 2023, which is a 16.2 percent increase from 2022. 1,661 of those abortions were provided to patients who reside outside of the state, the data shows. Further, there was a 165 percent increase in late-term abortions – those occurring after 23 weeks gestation – from 85 in 2022 to 225 in 2023.
Oregon has no restrictions on abortions based on how far along a woman is in their pregnancy.
Sample, in his pastoral teaching, highlights that the words “choice” and “reproductive freedom” are used by supporters of pro-choice abortion laws to “obscure” the truth.
“Because deep down, we know. We know what abortion is. We know what it does. And we know that no amount of slogans or legal jargon can make a wrong thing right,” Sample said. “And yet, modern culture insists on turning tragedy into triumph. It demands not just tolerance for abortion, not just legal protection, but celebration. It must be honored, enshrined.”
“Why? Because modernity has exchanged the wonder of life for the pursuit of power,” he explained. “If a baby is inconvenient, it must go. If it interferes with autonomy, it must be sacrificed. A life is no longer a gift. It is an obstacle, a burden, a problem to be solved.”
Sample also makes the case that abortion is a spiritual issue, because it’s not about politics, law, or ethics, but “how we see reality itself.” Still, he argues, the reality that an unborn child is a life is a truth that lingers, and something that cannot be fully erased.
“And that’s why, no matter how loudly abortion is celebrated, something feels… off,” Sample said.
“The need to frame it as a social good, as a moral necessity, reveals the guilt just beneath the surface,” he said. “If abortion were truly nothing, no one would need to justify it. No one would need to celebrate it. The fact that it must be ritualized as progress is itself an admission of its darkness.”
Sample closes his pastoral teaching with a message that it’s never too late to choose life, that grace is still available, and forgiveness is still possible.
“The call of Jesus is always the same: Repent. Open your eyes. Step out of the lie and into the light, and most of all – choose life. Not just biologically, but spiritually. Choose to see reality as it truly is. To embrace the mystery, the beauty, the wonder of existence itself,” Sample said. “Because life – every life – is a gift, and a world that forgets that is a world that has lost its soul.”
