Democrats Reject Life: Delaware Lawmakers Invite Abortion on Demand if Roe v. Wade Overturned

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Dr. Susan Berry

Delaware Democrat Gov. John Carney has signed a measure that would codify abortion law and guarantee access to abortion on demand in the state in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Both the Delaware Senate and House passed the legislation that amended the state’s current law making it illegal for abortions to be performed except in cases of incest, rape, and when the mother’s life is endangered. That law became unenforceable when the Supreme Court ruled to legalize abortion across the United States in 1973.

The Delaware law also required all abortions to be performed within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. As Delaware State News reports, however, if Roe v. Wade is struck down, the timeline for abortions in the state will be expanded:

The bill would allow abortions for any reason and would expand the timeline to let a doctor terminate a pregnancy any time before the fetus is “viable,” defined as “the point in a pregnancy when, in a physician’s good faith medical judgment based on the factors of a patient’s case, there is a reasonable likelihood of the fetus’s sustained survival outside the uterus without the application of extraordinary medical measures.”

An abortion could be performed after viability in the event of potential harm to the mother or the fetus being unlikely to survive outside the womb.

During debate on the measure, Republican proposals to ban abortion after 20 weeks and to require 24-hour waiting periods prior to performing abortions – similar to what many other states have done – were dismissed by Democrats as unconstitutional, according to the news report.

The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) notes Delaware’s history of permitting unsafe abortionists to work within its borders – including convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell.

“In 2013 ABC Philadelphia news reported that two former nurses at the Planned Parenthood of Delaware abortion facility quit their jobs, citing unsafe, unsanitary conditions, and ‘a meat-market style of assembly-line abortions,’ the pro-life group observes.

In neighboring Pennsylvania, for example, the Wolf administration has shut down abortion clinic the Hillcrest Women’s Medical Center after the state’s Department of Health found “serious deficiencies and violations” across multiple inspections. However, the state – which allowed Gosnell to operate for decades without inspections – did not revoke Hillcrest’s license entirely. Instead, the Department of Health said it would “suspend” services “until such time that it can demonstrate it is safe for women to receive care.”

“With a pro-life President in the White House and already one pro-life Justice nominated and confirmed, abortion advocates are running scared,” said SBA List president Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement. “Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are using Delaware as a testing ground for their extreme legislation to ensure abortionists can carry out abortions without limit – even on healthy children hours from birth.”

Ellen Barrosse, RNC National Committeewoman and Delaware pro-life leader, added:

While 20 other states have passed reasonable limits on abortion after five months in the last several years, Delaware is headed backwards. This bill would open the floodgates to Gosnell-style “houses of horrors” abortion clinics in Delaware. The abortion lobby claims this bill will ensure abortion is a decision made between a woman and her doctor but Delaware women know the truth: for too long have women in this state suffered at the hands of unscrupulous abortionists.

Carney, a Catholic, said he supported the rights of women under Roe v. Wade, reports Reuters.

Delaware Right to Life posted to Facebook that the new law is a “tragedy”:

This abortion law is a tragedy for Delaware as it codifies abortion on demand for any and no reason throughout all nine months of pregnancy based upon the abortion doctor’s “good faith medical judgement.” Delaware Right to Life is deeply saddened that a Catholic governor would not follow the duty of his faith to protect the lives of innocent unborn children from death at any stage in a pregnancy and their mothers from unscrupulous abortion providers. He ignored the voices of Delawareans who rallied in opposition to this legislation, which now makes us the First State for Unrestricted Abortion.

Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, whose profits have increased this year according to its annual report, celebrated Delaware’s move on Twitter:

Norma McCorvey, who identified herself as “Roe” in the landmark case, ultimately admitted in her book I Am Roe that, upon advice from feminist lawyers, she had lied she had been raped and was seeking an abortion. In addition, McCorvey, who died in February, said she has actually never had an abortion, and had placed her baby up for adoption. She later became a Christian and a pro-life advocate.

“My decisions were wrong and I am fighting with every breath to change what has occurred,” McCorvey said in 2008, and filmed a video in 2010 explaining her conversion.

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