republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/149/sb-5.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE CODIFYING U.S. SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT RELATING TO THE TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY.	The United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe v. Wade and subsequent cases established that access to abortion is a constitutional right and that states may not prohibit abortion prior to viability. As a result of these decisions, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Attorney General, see Del. Op. Att’y Gen. No. 73-030, § III (Apr. 12, 1973), the Delaware Code's prohibitions against abortion are unconstitutional, and thus unenforceable.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	149	SB 5	Delaware SB 5 (149)	bill		enacted	Bryan Townsend Debra Heffernan Margaret Rose Henry Valerie Longhurst	1	23	2	2017-05-04	2017-06-08	openstates	ocd-bill/822ef383-9229-4f76-a531-d3f90c637a2e	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=25736	296a18ebd4885b4f7c884f77de6f834363ea40fd2c008901d5e9f6762f80d76c	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware SB 5 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 24 OF THE DELAWARE CODE CODIFYING U.S. SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT RELATING TO THE TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY.

The United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Roe v. Wade and subsequent cases established that access to abortion is a constitutional right and that states may not prohibit abortion prior to viability. As a result of these decisions, and the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Attorney General, see Del. Op. Att’y Gen. No. 73-030, § III (Apr. 12, 1973), the Delaware Code's prohibitions against abortion are unconstitutional, and thus unenforceable.

Version chain

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

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 22–16 (pass) · lower
• SM — 11–7 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
• Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
• Margaret Rose Henry — primary (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
• Brian J. Bushweller — cosponsor (person)
• Bryon H. Short — cosponsor (person)
• Catherine Cloutier — cosponsor (person)
• David Bentz — cosponsor (person)
• David P. Sokola — cosponsor (person)
• Deborah Hudson — cosponsor (person)
• Edward S. Osienski — cosponsor (person)
• Harris B. McDowell — cosponsor (person)
• John A. Kowalko — cosponsor (person)
• John J. Viola — cosponsor (person)
• Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
• Sean M. Lynn — cosponsor (person)
• Stephanie L. Hansen — cosponsor (person)
• Trey Charles Paradee — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2017-05-04 was introduced and adopted in lieu of SB 5 introduction
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 1 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 1 to SS 1 - Laid On Table in Senate amendment-deferral
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 2 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 2 to SS 1 - Laid On Table in Senate amendment-deferral
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 3 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 3 to SS 1 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 7 YES 11 NO 2 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 4 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 4 to SS 1 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 4 YES 11 NO 5 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 4 to SS 1 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 4 YES 11 NO 5 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 5 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 5 to SS 1 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 7 YES 11 NO 2 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 5 to SS 1 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 7 YES 11 NO 2 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 6 to SS 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2017-05-09 Amendment SA 6 to SS 1 - Defeated By Senate. Votes: 9 YES 8 NO 3 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-05-09 Passed By Senate. Votes: 11 YES 7 NO 2 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT passage
• 2017-05-10 Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2017-05-17 Reported Out of Committee (Health & Human Development) in House with 8 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2017-06-06 Amendment HA 1 to SS 1 - Defeated By House. Votes: 15 YES 23 NO 1 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-06-06 Amendment HA 4 to SS 1 - Defeated By House. Votes: 15 YES 20 NO 3 NOT VOTING 3 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-06-06 Amendment HA 5 to SS 1 - Defeated By House. Votes: 14 YES 24 NO 3 ABSENT amendment-failure
• 2017-06-06 Passed By House. Votes: 22 YES 16 NO 3 ABSENT passage
• 2017-06-08 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/822ef383-9229-4f76-a531-d3f90c637a2e. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).