Bill targets abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy

A bill introduced May 8 in the Delaware Legislature would end the practice of late-term abortions, and make it a felony for doctors to perform the procedure.

“Abortion after 20 weeks is barbaric,” said Rep. Tim Dukes, R-Laurel. “No child should be torn apart limb-by-limb.”

Dukes and Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Laurel, are sponsors of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would protect the life of a 20-week fetus – about 5 months old – that can feel pain and can with advanced medical procedures live outside the womb.

“We think unborn childen have a right to life,” Richardson said.

A crowd of more than 100 attended the Republican-led bill announcement outside Legislative Hall, including Dr. Donna Harrison, a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist and executive director of the American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who spoke about the ability of fetuses to feel pain at 20 weeks.

“This will protect children from being torn apart in the womb,” she said. “If veterinarians were ripping living cats and dogs apart, there would be an outcry.”

Harrison said in cases where a woman's health is at risk, doctors perform a C-section to safely separate the woman and child. Although the bill does not mention C-section as a safe means of removing a child from a mother who does not want it, the bill would give the state the right to protect the life of an unborn 20-week-old.

The bill would make it a felony for any person who performs an abortion on a 20-week fetus. There would be no penalty on a woman undergoing a procedure, and the bill would allow a mother or father to sue a person who performs a late-term abortion, also known as partial-birth abortion.

The bill states it is not seeking to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's decision under Roe v. Wade – the 1973 landmark case that gave women the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The bill also states it does not seek to overturn or replace the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which gave women a right to abortion up to 24 weeks – the age when a fetus is considered viable, according to the decision.

“Rather, [the bill] asserts a separate and independent compelling state interest in unborn human life that exists once the unborn child is capable of experiencing pain,” the bill reads.

“We're trying to address late-term abortions,” Richardson said.

Other states have passed similar bills, with Iowa the latest to enact a heartbeat bill prohibiting abortions if a heartbeat is detected, sometimes as early as 6 weeks.