---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SERVICES."
description: "This Act requires that health insurance offered in this State provide coverage for fertility care services, including in vitro fertilization (\"IVF\") procedures, for individuals who suffer from a disease or condition that results in the inability to procreate or to carry a pregnancy to a live birth."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "SB 139"
citation: "Delaware SB 139 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bryan Townsend", "Valerie Longhurst"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 10
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-01-10"
last_action: "2018-06-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b694a5cb-b6ac-45a9-b709-1e8481d1f0e0"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26219"
source_hash: "8f0e491c71fe58c4b6569d97c2d332d0db13238b2c345cc5d026f6e461d20369"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware SB 139 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 18 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL SERVICES.

This Act requires that health insurance offered in this State provide coverage for fertility care services, including in vitro fertilization ("IVF") procedures, for individuals who suffer from a disease or condition that results in the inability to procreate or to carry a pregnancy to a live birth.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=26219&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=SB139)

## Votes

- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **39–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- Andria L. Bennett — cosponsor (person)
- Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
- Catherine Cloutier — cosponsor (person)
- David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
- David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
- Deborah Hudson — cosponsor (person)
- Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
- Earl G. Jaques Jr. — cosponsor (person)
- Ernesto B Lopez — cosponsor (person)
- F. Gary Simpson — cosponsor (person)
- Gerald L. Brady — cosponsor (person)
- Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
- John L. Mitchell — cosponsor (person)
- Kevin S Hensley — cosponsor (person)
- Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
- Margaret Rose Henry — cosponsor (person)
- Melanie George Smith — cosponsor (person)
- Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
- Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
- Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)
- Sean Matthews — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie T. Bolden — cosponsor (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
- Trey Charles Paradee — cosponsor (person)
- William J. Carson — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2018-01-10** Introduced and Assigned to Health, Children & Social Services Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-03-14** Reported Out of Committee (Health, Children & Social Services) in Senate with 4 Favorable `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-03-16** Amendment SA 1 to SB 139 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-03-27** Amendment SA 1 to SB 139 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `amendment-passage`
- **2018-03-27** Amendment SA 2 to SB 139 - Stricken in Senate
- **2018-03-27** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2018-03-28** Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-06** Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 2 Favorable, 9 On Its Merits `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2018-06-07** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 NO `passage`
- **2018-06-30** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b694a5cb-b6ac-45a9-b709-1e8481d1f0e0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).