Delaware General Assembly

Lieu/Substituted 5/4/17

The General Assembly has ended, the current status is the final status.

SS 1 for SB 5

4/27/17

Townsend

Sen. Henry
Reps. Heffernan, Longhurst

Sen. Bushweller, Cloutier, Ennis, Hansen, McDowell, Poore, Sokola
Reps. Baumbach, Bentz, Hudson, Kowalko, Lynn, Osienski, Paradee, B. Short, Viola

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE CODIFYING U.S. SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT RELATING TO THE TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY.

The United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe v. Wade and subsequent cases established that access to abortion is a constitutional right and that states may not prohibit abortion prior to viability. As a result of these decisions, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Attorney General, see Del. Op. Att’y Gen. No. 73-030, § III (Apr. 12, 1973), the Delaware Code's prohibitions against abortion are unconstitutional, and thus unenforceable. This Act modernizes Delaware’s laws on abortion to be consistent with the scope of the right protected by the United States Constitution and the practice in Delaware for the past 43 years. In doing so, this Act permits 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.

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Takes effect upon being signed into law

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