“This is a wonderful day for women in Delaware. I can’t stop crying,” Democratic House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown, who sponsored the bill, told CNN by telephone.
According to the bill, authorized medical assistants, certified nurses and certified midwives will be able to “terminate the pregnancy before viability”. The bill will also protect individuals from “extradition for committing an act leading to criminal prosecution for termination of pregnancy in another state”.
Individuals who acquire, provide, recommend, or assist others in obtaining termination services in the state are protected under HB 455 from civil litigation in another state, according to the bill.
“Women traveling to Delaware will be protected,” Minor-Brown said. “We will protect women because we are good neighbors and we want to meet women with open arms.”
In addition, the bill protects providers from disclosing communications and records related to reproductive health services, with the exception of records requested to investigate a complaint against a healthcare provider.
The bill further protects abortion providers who perform, recommend or provide legal reproductive health services in the state by not subjecting them to other states’ regulations and disciplinary measures.
GOP Sen. Bryant Richardson reacted to a statement sent via email to CNN that “education under Rule 455 will be minimal and not in the best interest of the patient.”
