2023: What lies in store for Guam? Vol. 7 No. 1 January 2023 | Page 4

Fetal “ heartbeat ” bills have become the anti-abortion measure of choice in the local and national debate on reproductive health and rights

FROM THE PUBLISHER ’ S DESK

The war on abortion is not over

There ’ s no returning to the “ dark days ” of the “ back-alley ” procedures , Gov . Lou Leon Guerrero said when she vetoed the Guam Heartbeat Act of 2022 , which would have prohibited abortions in the fifth week of pregnancy .

She vetoed Bill 291-36 on Dec . 28 . The timing was ironic , according to Father Romeo Convocar , vicar general of the Archdiocese , who noted that the governor rejected the anti-abortion bill on the Feast of the Holy Innocents . " The feast commemorates the young children in Bethlehem who were massacred by King Herod of Judea in his attempt to kill the infant Jesus ," Convocar said in a statement .
Nothing divides Guam as furiously as abortion does . The 36th Guam Legislature ’ s split vote on Sen . Telena Nelson ’ s Bill 291- 36 represented the community ’ s cleft sentiments .
In the end , the legislature ’ s failure to override the governor ’ s veto has kept the status quo in place .
Fetal “ heartbeat ” bills have become the anti-abortion legislative measure of choice in the local and national debate on reproductive health and rights .
The war was further reignited in June 2022 when the U . S . Supreme Court reversed the landmark ruling on Roe v Wade in 1973 . In Dobbs v Jackson Women ' s Health Organization , the Supreme Court held that abortion is not a right embedded in the Constitution , and declared that a reproductive policy must be decided by individual U . S . jurisdictions .
" While many of us mourn the sudden and shocking reversal of rights that are widely regarded as fundamental to the wholeness of every woman , it falls upon
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Fetal “ heartbeat ” bills have become the anti-abortion measure of choice in the local and national debate on reproductive health and rights
us , as a community , to determine whether these rights are worth protecting ," the governor said in her veto message .
The Guam Heartbeat Act , modeled after the Texas law that bans abortions after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac , would also have cleared the way for a citizen-led civil action against those who perform the procedure .
" The incentivized vigilantism of this already deeply-flawed bill is reprehensible . Seeking to turn brother against brother , and sister against sister , the enforcement mechanism of this bill appeals to one of our most base tendencies as human beings : greed ," the governor said .
While abortion is legal on Guam , the procedure has not been readily accessible since 2018 following the retirement of the only doctor who performed the service .
But just the same , the governor maintained that women seeking to terminate their pregnancies must not be deprived of options . The alternative can be worse , she warned .
" As a young nurse , I assisted in the treatment of women whose desperate circumstances led them to pursue dangerous ' back alley ' abortions , at great risk to their lives ," the governor said .
" I cannot fathom returning to those dark days . Mindful of the nuances and complexities inherent in every pregnancy , I refuse to support any measure that fails to even acknowledge the liberty and equality interests of the citizens affected by it , and imposes government control over women ' s bodies , lives , and , ultimately , their futures . I refuse to reduce women to their wombs .”
The governor ' s veto of Bill 291-36 may have settled the debate for now . But the pro-life camp is not about to give up . The war is not over .
The question about the validity of an old law that sought a total ban on abortion on Guam keeps popping up .
In 1990 , the District Court of Guam declared Public Law 20-134 unconstitutional , and therefore void . The decision was based on a lawsuit filed by the Guam Society of Obstetricians against then-Gov . Joseph Ada .
The court ordered Ada and the Guam Election Commission to be permanently restrained from “ operating , administering , enforcing or executing ” any of the provisions of the challenged law .
It ’ s a dead law , according to now-former attorney general Leevin Camacho . But his successor , Doug Moylan , vowed to resurrect P . L . 20-134 , even if it needs to be argued before the courts .
The abortion debate tested the executive and the legislative branches of government . And once again , it is bound to test the Guam judiciary . By then , the reproductive rights warriors will be ready to go back to the battlefield .
Publisher / Editor-in-Chief Mar-Vic Cagurangan publisher @ pacificislandtimes . com
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