Bill Decriminalizing Abortion in Delaware Sent to Governor

The Senate passed House Bill 31, a bill that removes statutory language in the Delaware code that criminalizes abortion, conflicting with a law that the Delaware General Assembly passed in 2017 that codified the rulings of Roe v. Wade and its subsequent cases with respect to abortion rights and access. The bill passed 13 to 7 with Democrat Sen. Bruce Ennis not voting.  Hey Bruce, why are you a Democrat again?

As you can see below, House Bill 31 just strikes out the anti-abortion rights language in the Delaware code that makes it a crime to facilitate an abortion or to cause an abortion.

The bill also clarifies only physicians are permitted to perform abortions, and strikes language in the code that made the sale of certain pieces of equipment or medicine for the purposes of an abortion legally dubious. 

House Bill 31 Sponsors	Yes Votes	No Votes
Longhurst, Dorsey Walker, Griffith, Heffernan, K.Johnson, Minor-Brown, Moore, Baumbach, Bentz, Brady, Kowalko, Morrison	Passed House 28-13. Baumbach, Bennett, Bentz, Bolden, Brady, Bush, Carson, Chukwuocha, Cooke, Dorsey Walker, Griffith, Heffernan, Hensely, K.Johnson, K.Williams, Kowalko, Lambert, Longhurst, Lynn, Matthews, Minor-Brown, Mitchell, Morrison, Osienski, S.Moore, Schwartzkopf, Shupe, Wilson-Anton	Briggs King, Collins, D.Short, Dukes, Gray, M.Smith, Morris, Postles, Ramone, Smyk, Spiegelman, Vanderwende, Yearick
Lockman, Gay, Hansen, S.McBride, Pinkney, Poore, Sturgeon, Paradee, Sokola, Townsend	Passed Senate 13-7-1. Brown Gay Hansen Lockman Mantzavinos Paradee Pinkney Poore S.McBride Sokola Sturgeon Townsend Walsh	Bonini Hocker Lawson Lopez Pettyjohn Richardson Wilson Ennis
Current Status —	Sent to Governor Carney

“As I said in health committee presenting this bill, I see it as a bit of a technical modification. What House Bill 31 does is amend Title 11 of Delaware law in order to be consistent with changes that were made to Delaware law in 2017,” Senator Elizabeth Lockman said. “When [Senate Bill 5(S)] was passed to codify that Delaware law protects abortion as a safe and legal medical procedure prior to viability, House Bill 31 removes abortion from the Criminal Code, and instead treats it the same way all other medical procedures are treated.”