Pacific Island Times PIT November 2018 Vol 3 No. 11 | Page 4

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK A A matter of life and vote bortion did not figure in the early stages of this year’s election season until Frank Aguon and his running mate Alicia Limtiaco launched their write-in campaign before a predominantly pro-life crowd last weekend. The Guam Democratic Party’s runaway team has thus found a solid constituency that will carry their torch. It may be small — a single-issue lot — but quite intense and loud enough to cause a dent on the campaign of the party’s standard bearers, Lou Leon Guer- rero and Joshua Tenorio. “Do we want a leader who believes that abortion is the way to build a better com- munity?” Aguon asked, in an apparent jab at Leon Guerrero, who served as president of People for Choice when she was a practicing nurse in 1990. That Aguon instantly became the sweet- heart of pro-lifers is a twist of fate. When he was on the campaign trail as Carl Gutierrez’s running mate in 2010, he was nailed to the cross by the Esperansa Project, a pro-life group, which accused him of stalling the Women’s Reproductive Health Informa- tion Act, a bill that proposed restrictions on abortion on Guam. Then chair of the legislative health care commit- tee, Aguon passed the bill on to the Office of Attorney General to determine the “legal and social implications” of the proposed measure. That year, the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial team was the subject of assault from the pulpit every Sunday toward the general elections. In 2013, Aguon authored the “Infant Child’s Right to Life Act.” This year, he co-authored “The Unborn Child Protection Act of 2018,” hence recouping some points with the pro-life group. The abortion debate flared up at the gubernatorial forum hosted Thursday night by the Guam Medical As- sociation, where Leon Guerrero and Republican candi- date Lt. Gov. Ray Tenorio clashed on several health care issues. “Life begins at conception, period. We must protect every life,” Tenorio said, adhering to his party’s ideolo- gy. As with any civil rights issue, abortion is a splitting discourse. Though predominantly a Catholic commu- nity, Guam has its own liberals, as well, who seek the preservation of the endangered Roe vs Wade. A recent full-house forum hosted by the American Association of University Women-Guam Chapter at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa saw the gathering of women who desire to keep their wombs off-limits to government. While Leon Guerrero may have secured this voting bloc, she opted to play it safe, lest she alienate the Cath- olic and pro-life vote— which may now be split between Tenorio and Aguon if this sector is indeed voting based 4 on the candidates’ position on abortion and right to life. At the GMA debate, Leon Guerrero skirted around the abortion subject. “I became a nurse because I love life. I am the only one here who has given birth to life,” she said. In a chapter of the “Asian/Pacific Islander American Women, A Historical Anthology/ Chamorro Women and the Politics of Abor- tion in Guam,” the authors Vivian Loyola Dames, Shirley Hune and Gail M. Nomu- ra celebrated Leon Guerrero’s pro-choice position. “It was through her participation in a women’s consciousness-raising group that she became pro-choice. Lou also attributes her becoming pro-choice to her Catholic ed- ucation, which she says helped women like Anita (Arriola) and her to become strong and unafraid to speak about their beliefs.” When asked by her opponent at the GMA debate if she would support pro-life bills should she become governor, Leon Guerrero replied, “As I have said, I love life. I am running because I want to improve the quality of life. I am running to make sure that health care is provided to everybody because I love life. I support life.” Guam is a paradox. The community shows a sem- blance of social permissiveness, bearing a relaxed de- meanor toward liberal ideals. Homosexuality, for exam- ple, is socially embraced. But Guam’s political attitude tells a different a story. Local proposals on gambling and same-sex marriage have repeatedly seen defeat at the legislature. That the Congress building stands 5 ft. across from the Cathedral on the street named “Chalan Santo Papa” may be emblematic of the local lawmakers’ conservative bent. Guam’s legislative conservatism can be traced back to 1990, when the legislature passed a very restrictive law that banned all abortions—without even an exception for rape, incest or a fetal deformity, defying the 1973 juris- prudence on Roe vs Wade. The Guam OB-GYN Society and Guam Nursing Association sought judicial interven- tion that culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision that “guaranteed all women the right to an abortion through the sixth month of pregnancy.” In recent years, the Guam Legislature has passed sev- eral bills that make it difficult to terminate pregnancy. In July this year, Guam lost its only doctor who pro- vided pregnancy termination service, seemingly aborting the relevance of abortion policies on Guam. This is a serious civil rights and constitutional issue, but at this point, without a local provider, abortion discourse on Guam is rendered moot and academic. In this election season, talks of right to life and right to choose are more of a political sound bite rather than a real policy debate. Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Mar-Vic Cagurangan [email protected] Associate Editor Bruce Lloyd [email protected] Associate Editor (Pacific Note/Palau) Ongerung Kambes Kesolei [email protected] Palau Bureau Chief Bernadette Carreon [email protected] Contributing Writers Raquel Bagnol Zaldy Dandan Jayne Flores Theodore Lewis Gabriel McCoard Joyce McClure Diana Mendoza Amanda Pampuro Alex Rhowuniong Johanna Salinas Blake Watson Visual Editor Mar-Vic Cagurangan Sales and Marketing Executive Jan SN Furukawa [email protected] Account Executive Anna Marie Alegre [email protected] Administraitive Assistant Lolita Therrel [email protected] *** Pacific Independent News Service LLC Tumon Sands Plaza 1082 Pale San Vitores Rd. Tumon Guam 96931 Telephone: [phone] Email: [email protected] Website: www.pacificislandtimes.com P.O. Box 1880 Koror, Palau 96940 Telephone [phone] The Pacific Island Times is published monthly and circulated in Guam and Palau by the Pacific Independent News Service LLC. Editorial and advertising submissions become property of the Pacific Island Times and cannot be lifted without consent of the publisher. Views and opinions from contributors do not necessarily represent the editorial position of the Pacific Island Times.