Letter to the Editor: LWV of Sussex supports lawsuit against Seaford

The League of Women Voters of Sussex County applauds the Delaware Department of Justice for filing a lawsuit against the city of Seaford over its fetal-remains disposal ordinance, which was scheduled to become effective Jan. 22. The Seaford ordinance would force anyone who has a surgical abortion or a miscarriage to have the fetal tissue interred or cremated at their own expense or at the health care facility’s expense, despite the hardship on patients and the clear preemption by state law. Seeking to have the ordinance declared illegal and unconstitutional, Attorney General Kathy Jennings filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court on Jan. 11.

The League of Women Voters holds the position that, in a pluralistic society, public policy must affirm the constitutional right of privacy of the individual to make reproductive choices, and we oppose any threat to this basic constitutional right, whether on the national, state or local level. While Seaford’s ordinance serves no legitimate public health function, it clearly erects financial barriers that pressure women to forgo their constitutional right to privacy.

It is disturbing that people who ordinarily oppose government intrusion into their lives would support an ordinance which does exactly that. A municipal government has no right to impose such restrictions on an individual’s most personal decisions. LWVSCDE stands alongside the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice, the Delaware chapter of the National Organization for Women and Women’s March Sussex-DE, as well as other organizations that support the lawsuit and seek to prevent the erosion of the constitutional right of reproductive choice.

League of Women Voters of Sussex County board

Janet Ambrose

Marge LaFond

Jane Lord

Martha Rothenberg

Pat Newcomb

Rain Tyler

Jan Willis