Delaware on Friday became the first state to enact legislation to ensure that abortion remains legal, and other states are also considering similar laws. The law codifies the protections found in the 44-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade.
We applaud Governor [John] Carney for sending a strong message that state policymakers will protect women's access to critical reproductive health services in the face of threats at the federal level," said Amanda Allen, senior state legislative counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Elizabeth Nash, an analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion policy, said the law makes a statement that women are valued citizens in Delaware.
"It says to women that you are important, you have the ability to decide when to have a child and the state supports you in making the decision that is best for you and your family," Nash said.
Given all the other damage to the nation that Pr*sident Donald Trump has initiated or exacerbated, news of which afflicts us every day, it shouldn’t be forgotten that he has also vowed to cause more damage by appointing Supreme Court justices dedicated to overturning legalized abortion and leaving the matter up to the states. If that happened, 33 states where 37 million women live are at high to medium risk for outlawing abortion, according to a report issued in January by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Twenty-two states could move immediately to ban abortion if Roe is overturned, with women in 11 more states plus the District of Columbia at what CRR labels “medium risk.” Four states—Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota—already have abortion-outlawing legislation on the books that would be triggered if Roe were knocked down.
The Delaware move is one that other states should emulate, but there’s a limitation.