Delawareans joined #StopTheBans rallies across the country Tuesday.
Advocates gathered on Wilmington's Rodney Square protested recent legislation restricting or largely banning abortions in states including Alabama and Missouri.
Representatives from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Delaware celebrated the fact that abortion is currently legal in Delaware.
Shané Darby of Network Delaware framed the issue in terms of justice. “Most women cannot even afford to go across a border or transport to get to these abortion clinics," she said. "Anti-abortion laws are a direct attack on women, especially women at an economic disadvantage and women of color.”
State Sen. Bryan Townsend sponsored 2017 legislation that codified Roe v. Wade’s abortion protections in Delaware, but says more legislative work needs to be done.
“We just want to make sure that the entirety of the code reflects the overarching value that most of the public agrees with, which is that it should be a woman’s right to choose, fundamentally, up until the point of viability," he said. "And right now there are a couple of pieces of language that don’t fully align with that, so we want to address that.”
Legislation filed earlier this year that would restrict abortion legality in Delaware has yet to advance from committee. A companion bill requiring doctors to offer an ultrasound and the chance to listen to a fetal heart tone before terminating a pregnancy also remains in committee.
