Delaware lawmakers voted last week to require private insurance companies and Medicaid to fund abortion in the state. The measure passed by a party-line vote of 15-6.
HB 110 covers a maximum benefit of $750 annually — a sum lawmakers say will cover the cost of a chemical abortion, more commonly known as the abortion pill. Legislative analysts used data from the Delaware Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance to estimate that nearly 85% of the state’s abortions are committed via the abortion pill.
The bill also mandates that insurance providers cannot charge any co-pays, impose deductibles, or require any other kind of cost-sharing for abortion coverage. Religious employers will reportedly be exempt if they can prove they have a religious objection to abortion.
The measure had opponents in the General Assembly.
“This is a procedure that you want my tax dollars to pay for,” Republican Sen. Bryant Richardson said. “I’m sorry, I think this is evil.”
READ: Woman who took abortion pill: I was ‘weeping and screaming’ because I saw my baby
During a previous debate in the House, Rep. Valerie Jones Giltner argued that even cancer patients have to pay for their treatments through cost-sharing insurance fees. “To say that there should be no deductible, no co-pay, for anybody that gets an abortion, even if they have private insurance, is not sound financial judgment,” she said.
Delaware Senate sponsor of the bill, Kyle Evans Gay, claimed, “Continuing to deny coverage for abortion will create health disparities instead of dismantling them. The lack of coverage disproportionately affects marginalized communities, low-income individuals and people in regions with limited health care resources, including Sussex County.”
The taxpayer cost for the measure for fiscal year 2025 is more than $503,000, with a $250,000 one-time cost.
Live Action News has previously reported on the evidence that making abortion free (to the woman) does not help marginalized communities — it incentivizes it, further pressuring women into feeling that abortion is their only option. Instead of a free ticket for killing their children, low-income individuals need policy changes that offer meaningful assistance and services, so they can better provide for their families.
The bill now heads to the desk of Democratic Governor John Carney for signature.
