SEAFORD, Del. - Seaford City Councilman says he supports a lawsuit filed against his city by the Delaware Attorney General. Councilman, James King, says he's against the ordinance that deals with handling fetal remains after a surgical abortion.
However, the Mayor of Seaford is still defending his cities actions. The Attorney Generals lawsuit argues Seaford's ordinance violate state law and does not want to go into effect.
Councilman King says he was never in favor of the controversial ordinance. He was one of the two Councilman to vote against the ordinance back in December.
The ordinance would require the burial or cremation of fetal remains from any abortion performed within city limits. Councilman King says he understands why the Delaware Attorney General is suing Seaford to stop that law.
"I think she’s well within her means and I respect her for doing that. They’ve warned us, they worked with us, and she did exactly what she said she was going to do,” says Councilman King.
He also says this ordinance never should’ve happened at a city level.
”I was never in support of it from the beginning. The state of Delaware currently has a law in place that handles fetal remains. Therefore, it’s illegal for a city to come in and try to change that. The letter she sent us explained to what we were trying to do do was illegal."
Seaford Mayor, David Genshaw, is still not happy about the attorney generals lawsuit.
"I'd like to think that we as a town have handled it the best way we can and we communicated the best way we can directly with the state. We probably could’ve all sat down and had a conversation about this on a pathway forward. We would've been better off with that instead of filing lawsuits against each other. Unfortunately, that’s the path she took and so will have to go forward," says Mayor Genshaw.
He says the city has done everything possible to avoid litigation.
The order is passed on December 14 and is scheduled to become affective on January 22. However, Councilman James King Seaford Councilman says the Attorney General is requesting the court to expedite a scheduled hearing within the next 90 days.
