Abortion In Delaware

Abortion in Delaware is legal. 55% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. There was a therapeutic exceptions in the state's legislative ban on abortions by 1900. Informed consent laws were on the books by 2007. In 2017, Sen. Bryan Townsend, D-Newark introduced legislation to try to make clear that abortion would remain legal in the state in case 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned. The legislation was subsequently updated. Attempts have been made to introduce mandatory ultrasound laws, but they failed to get out of committee. State legislators tried to move ahead the week at which a woman could get a legal abortion in 2019.

There were seven abortion clinics in 1982, eight in 1992 and three in 2014.  There were 2,920 legal abortions in the state in 2014 and 2,889 in 2015. The state had an active abortion rights community in 2019, participating in #StoptheBans movement with a protest at Rodney Square in Wilmington.

Terminology

The abortion debate most commonly relates to the "induced abortion" of an embryo or fetus at some point in a pregnancy, which is also how the term is used in a legal sense. Some also use the term "elective abortion", which is used in relation to a claim to an unrestricted right of a woman to an abortion, whether or not she chooses to have one. The term elective abortion or voluntary abortion describes the interruption of pregnancy before viability at the request of the woman, but not for medical reasons.

Anti-abortion advocates tend to use terms such as "unborn baby", "unborn child", or "pre-born child", and see the medical terms "embryo", "zygote", and "fetus" as dehumanizing. Both "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of terms labeled as political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light. "Pro-choice" implies that the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice", while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life". The Associated Press encourages journalists to use the terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion".

Context

Free birth control correlates to teenage girls having a fewer pregnancies and fewer abortions. A 2014 New England Journal of Medicine study found such a link.  At the same time, a 2011 study by Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health also found that states with more abortion restrictions have higher rates of maternal death, higher rates of uninsured pregnant women, higher rates of infant and child deaths, higher rates of teen drug and alcohol abuse, and lower rates of cancer screening.

According to a 2017 report from the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health, states that tried to pass additional constraints on a women's ability to access legal abortions had fewer policies supporting women's health, maternal health and children's health.  These states also tended to resist expanding Medicaid, family leave, medical leave, and sex education in public schools. According to Megan Donovan, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute, states have legislation seeking to protect a woman's right to access abortion services have the lowest rates of infant mortality in the United States.

Poor women in the United States had problems paying for menstrual pads and tampons in 2018 and 2019. Almost two-thirds of American women could not pay for them. These were not available through the federal Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC). Lack of menstrual supplies has an economic impact on poor women.  A study in St. Louis found that 36% had to miss days of work because they lacked adequate menstrual hygiene supplies during their period.  This was on top of the fact that many had other menstrual issues including bleeding, cramps and other menstrual induced health issues. As of November 2018, it was one of the states that did not have a state sales tax and so menstrual items were not taxed.

History

Legislative history

By the end of the 1800s, all states in the Union except Louisiana had therapeutic exceptions in their legislative bans on abortions. In the 19th century, bans by state legislatures on abortion were about protecting the life of the mother given the number of deaths caused by abortions; state governments saw themselves as looking out for the lives of their citizens.

The state was one of ten states in 2007 to have a customary informed consent provision for abortions. A Republican legislative member introduced an abortion ban at week 20 in 2017.  The Democratic controlled legislature prevented this bill from even reaching a floor vote. In 2017, Sen. Bryan Townsend, D-Newark introduced legislation to try to make clear that abortion would remain legal in the state in case 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned. Townsend said of Republican legislative efforts at the time in relation to his own bill, "They talk about the issue as if it is not a complicated, difficult, heart-wrenching one for women." The state legislature updated Delaware's legal code in 2017 around abortion.  It now read, "the termination of a pregnancy prior to viability, to protect the life or health of the mother, or in the event of serious fetal anomaly."

In August 2018, the state had a law to protect the right to have an abortion. Senator Bryant Richardson (R-Seaford) introduced an ultrasound before getting an abortion bill in 2018, but it did not get out of committee. In Senate District 21, Democrat Bob Wheatley sought to oust Richardson in elections on November 6, 2018 in part related to Richardson's abortion stance.

In early 2019, a bill had been introduced as was being debated over when abortion should be banned.  New proposed legislation would move the date to 20 weeks.  At the time it was being discussed, it looked like it would not be likely to pass. As of May 14, 2019, the state prohibited abortions after the fetus was viable, generally some point between week 24 and 28. This period uses a standard defined by the US Supreme Court in 1973 with the Roe v. Wade ruling. Bryant Richardson introduced a bill in 2019 that would have required women seeking abortions to have the required legal option to have non-medically necessitated ultrasound to see the fetal "heartbeat".  According to Richardson, this bill, "It gives women all the information that's available to make a good decision. [...] It's all about women's rights."

Judicial history

The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.

Clinic history

Number of abortion clinics in Delaware by year

Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state increased by one, going from seven in 1982 to eight in 1992. In 2014, there were three abortion clinics in the state. In 2014, 33% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 18% of women in the state aged 15 – 44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic. In March 2016, there were three Planned Parenthood clinics in the state. In 2017, there were three Planned Parenthood clinics in a state with a population of 212,554 women aged 15 – 49 of which two offered abortion services. In 2018, first-trimester abortions in the state generally cost around US$500.

Statistics

In the period between 1972 and 1974, there were zero recorded illegal abortion deaths in the state. In 1990, 80,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy. In 2010, the state had 1 publicly funded abortions, of which was 1 federally funded. In 2013, among white women aged 15–19, there were  abortions 80, 230 abortions for black women aged 15–19, 130 abortions for Hispanic women aged 15–19, and 20 abortions for women of all other races. In 2014, 55% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 6.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Intersections with religion and religious figures

Politicians who have been targeted in such controversies include Lucy Killea, Mario Cuomo, John Kerry, Rudy Giuliani, and Joe Biden. California's Killea's case was the first recorded.

Abortion rights views and activities

Views

Network Delaware's Reproductive Justice Campaign's Shané Darby at a protest in May 2019, "Anti-abortion laws are a direct attack on women. [...] Especially women that are economically disadvantaged and women of color. Anything to do with our reproductive system is health care. Our health care should be legal, safe and affordable."

Protests

Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019. At the protest at Rodney Square in Wilmington, dozens of people participated, carrying signs saying things like "Abortion is health care," "My choice, my right," and "We won't go back. Government, stay out of women's bodies." Speakers included Network Delaware's Reproductive Justice Campaign's Shané Darby.

Footnotes