Abortion Access
Women facing an unintended pregnancy must have access to safe, legal abortion services without interference from government. Access to abortion is legal, constitutionally protected and consistently supported by a majority of Americans; yet opponents of reproductive rights have made it increasingly hard for women to access needed care.
In Roe v. Wade and subsequent decisions, the US Supreme Court ruled that, before fetal viability, the decision to have an abortion is a private one between a woman and her doctor. Supporters of reproductive rights must be ever vigilant to stop the erosion of access through legislation, court battles, intimidation and regulatory restriction.
Planned Parenthood of Delaware supports reproductive rights, including the right to an abortion.
In Delaware:
- The only thing protecting abortion rights is the US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. Current state law nearly bans all abortions and only Roe v. Wade keeps that law from being enforced.
- Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood of Delaware, face increasingly aggressive anti-reproductive rights protesters at their facilities who harass staff, patients and volunteers.
Source
Delaware State Law
Waiting Periods/Biased State-Mandated Counseling
Planned Parenthood trusts women as moral decision makers about their own reproduction. Delaware women do not need the state to intervene by imposing a waiting period and biased counseling. Such measures single out abortion as a medical procedure and are used to limit women’s ability to access medical care.
Abortion services already include accurate and non-biased information on the nature, consequences and risks of the procedure; and on alternatives available to the woman, so as to assure an informed and responsible decision concerning the continuation or termination of the pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood Delaware opposes waiting periods and biased state-mandated counseling.
Parental Notification for Abortion
Planned Parenthood wholeheartedly encourages parental involvement when a young woman is faced with an unplanned pregnancy. In fact, across the country 73% of clients who are teenage girls already involve a parent. Those who do not talk with a parent or legal guardian have compelling reasons, such as physical or sexual abuse.
In 1995, the Delaware General Assembly crafted a compromise bill on this extremely difficult issue. The Delaware law requires that at least one parent or a grandparent be notified 24 hours before a teen less than 16 years of age can obtain an abortion. If a teen refuses to have a parent notified, she has the option of seeing a licensed mental health professional who will counsel her on her options and assess whether it is in the minor’s best interest to waive the parental notice requirement. Or she can go to court and seek judicial authorization to proceed without notifying a parent.
Planned Parenthood opposes expansion of the Delaware parental notification law.
Source
Delaware State Law
Clinic regulations
Anti-reproductive rights groups have proposed that clinics where abortions are provided require special regulations. Planned Parenthood is opposed to “Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers” (TRAP) because it is unfair, and perhaps unlawful, to impose regulations on clinics providing a specific type of service.
Clinics that provide abortions are regulated to the same extent as other clinics and doctor’s offices where outpatient surgical procedures are performed. Singling out sexual and reproductive health clinics is simply a strategy to limit access to abortion services.
Planned Parenthood Delaware opposes TRAP--regulations or policies that create special regulations or restrictions on an agency simply because they provide a particular sexual and reproductive health service.
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