(The Center Square) — Delaware Gov. John Carney is being urged to veto a bill that would require the state's colleges and universities to provide abortion-inducing medication to students.
The proposal , which the Democratic-controlled Legislature approved in the final weeks of its annual session, would require colleges and universities in Delaware with student health centers to offer emergency contraception and to facilitate care for students seeking medication abortion.
Democrats argue the changes are necessary following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling eliminating federal protections for abortions and efforts to restrict access to abortion-inducing medication.
"For many college students, campus health centers become their primary care providers for their four years in school," state Rep. Cyndie Romer, D-Newark, said in a statement following the bill's passage. "Students go to them when they are sick, when they need a referral, when they need vaccinations – and they should be able to go to them for reproductive healthcare."
But Republicans, who opposed the measure , are calling on Carney to veto the bill and raising concerns about the safety of allowing college campuses to facilitate medically induced abortions.
In a letter to Carney, state Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Seaford, peppered the governor with several questions related to the bill, including whether there is a "conscience clause" exempting anyone "who may not want to be involved in terminating an unborn child." He urged Carney not to sign the legislation into law unless they are addressed.
"Universities should not have to assume responsibility for handing out medication that endangers the lives of young girls," Richardson said in a statement. "What liability will they face when someone dies from taking the pills?"
Opponents of the proposal say the requirements are unnecessary as colleges already provide reproductive services and argue that it would increase the number of abortions performed in the state.
"It’s just death-on-demand in Delaware," Moira Sheridan, president of Delaware Right to Life, said in a recent statement opposing the plan. "Why do we need a bill when they dispense emergency contraceptives via a vending machine in the student center at the University of Delaware?”
Delaware Democrats have pushed through several abortion-related bills since the Supreme Court 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which overturned the federal legal right to an abortion.
In June, Carney signed a bill requiring most private health insurance plans and Delaware’s Medicaid program to cover abortions.
The new law also prohibits most insurance plans, including the one covering state government employees, from charging copays, setting deductibles, or imposing other cost-sharing requirements for abortion services.
The state Comptroller General's office estimates the new requirement will cost Delaware's taxpayers about $500,000 a year for abortions covered through Medicaid and the state's employee health insurance plan.
Critics argue that the state and private insurers shouldn't be subsidizing abortion care, especially when some taxpayers have religious or personal objections to the procedure.
Democratic lawmakers have also approved plans codifying abortion access in state law and providing legal protections to abortion providers and out-of-state residents who travel to Delaware to get the procedure.
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