The Delaware State Senate votes to approve enshrining abortion rights in the constitution, but a more difficult hurdle awaits in the House.
The right to an abortion has been codified under Delaware law since 2017, but Democratic lawmakers are looking to take the protection one step further by creating a constitutional amendment that secures various reproductive rights.
Republican State Sen. Bryant Richardson (R-Seaford) has been an outspoken opponent of abortion and proposed two changes to the amendment — both ultimately failed on near party line votes.
The current language of the bill allows the state to regulate the provision of abortion care after fetal viability, but it prohibits the state from preventing an abortion after viability if the "good-faith medical judgment of a treating attending health care professional" deems the procedure is necessary to "protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual."
Richardson’s amendments to the bill would have required the treating attending health care professional, as well as an additional licensed healthcare professional, to judge whether to provide abortion care after fetal viability. He hoped to add language specifically requiring the pregnant person to be evaluated by a licensed mental health provider if an abortion is deemed necessary to specifically protect the mental health of the pregnant individual.
"I think that having an additional precaution and consulting a psychologist — someone who actually understands the repercussions of different mental conditions — would be a reasonable step," Richardson said on the Senate Floor.
State Sen. Kyra Hoffner (D-Leipsic) argued this change could impose extra care on a patient who did not request it.
"What [Richardson's] amendment is doing is forcing mental care onto a person who's not asking for mental care. She's making a decision with her doctor on what her care should be," Hoffner said. "As legislators, we shouldn't force mental care onto somebody who's not asking for it."
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark), agreed with Hoffner, adding that the requirement of a second opinion also has the potential to delay care.
“I think this is an example of not respecting the autonomy of the mother and of medical professionals to make these judgments," Townsend said.
A majority of Republican senators spoke in opposition before the final vote on the amendment, including Sen. Minority Leader Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) who referenced the constitutional promise of life and liberty.
“Life comes before liberty, and this bill, and some of the conversations we have, we're talking about the liberty of the individual to make those decisions. But before the liberty of those individuals comes life," Pettyjohn said.
The constitutional amendment passed with only Democratic support in the Senate, but it will need at least one Republican to vote to pass it when it reaches the House.
State Rep. Michael Smith (R-Pike Creek) is the only current Republican representative who voted in favor of codifying abortion protections in 2017.
If the constitutional amendment were to receive a 2/3 majority in the House, a second leg of the amendment still must be passed in a subsequent General Assembly in order to become official, which won't convene until January 2027.
Tuesday — the same day the Senate voted to pass the amendment — Republican lawmakers introduced House Bill 46.
The bill would require minors under the age of 16 to obtain parental consent before undergoing an abortion, except in cases of medical emergency or if the Family Court decides the minor is "mature and well-informed enough to make the decision independently" or if obtaining parental consent is "not in the best interest of the minor, such as in cases of abuse, neglect, or coercion."
The bill has been assigned to the House Health & Human Development Committee for a hearing.
