A federal judge issued a ruling last week that has opened the door for the use of telemedicine abortions in Guam. The ruling, which will remove the requirement for “in-person communications” prior to taking the abortion pill, came in response to a lawsuit filed by two Hawaii-based abortionists.
In 2018, Guam’s only abortionist retired, making Guam seemingly abortion-free though abortion remained legal. Though there are claims that doctors in Guam were quietly giving the abortion pill to women, there were complaints from abortion advocates that women in Guam had to fly to Hawaii in order to get the deadly drug regimen. Hawaiian abortionists Dr. Shandhini Raidoo and Dr. Bliss Kaneshiro filed a lawsuit requesting that they be given the right to prescribe the abortion pill via telemedicine. There is obvious financial benefit to them in the arrangement to expand their abortion pill practice to women in Guam without any in-person exam beforehand.
“For people in Guam, just like across the United States, having safe, legal access to abortion means that we can make our own decisions about our lives, our families, and our futures,” said Vanessa Williams, an attorney who aided in the push for telemedicine abortions in Guam.
But there are two problems with this image of freedom.
The first is that the court ruling did not give the women of Guam access to “safe” abortion. There is no such thing. In every abortion, at least one human being’s life is intentionally ended. In addition, untold numbers of women have been injured or killed by legal abortion since Roe v. Wade. However, due to the fact that only about half of all US states report abortion complications, the number is likely higher than is currently reported. Pro-life watchdog group Operation Rescue has been tracking known instances of injury and death at abortion businesses around the nation. These are likely just a fraction of the actual instances of serious abortion complications.
What is known is that distributing the abortion pill using telemedicine from Hawaii to Guam will put women at risk of the dangerous side effects of the abortion pill. Found to be four times more dangerous for women than first-trimester surgical abortion, women taking the abortion pill are at risk of failed abortion, infection, hemorrhaging, and death. Without a prior exam, a potentially fatal ectopic pregnancy could go undiagnosed until it is too late. In addition, leaving it to women to determine the gestational age of their children prior to abortion instead of using ultrasound puts them at increased risk. If the woman taking the abortion pill is Rh-negative but goes undiagnosed, her future pregnancies are put at risk.
READ: Researcher tied to abortion industry promotes abortion pill in Scientific American
Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had a long-standing rule requiring the abortion pill to be dispensed by a certified provider in a clinic, hospital, or medical office because of the health risks involved, that rule was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the Biden Administration is in the process of determining whether to remove the longstanding rule permanently, and pro-abortion organizations are betting the pro-abortion administration will come through for them — putting women at risk so they can financially profit.
The second problem is that abortion grants women the power to kill another human being in order to “make our own decision about our lives, our families, and our futures.” Stripping away the euphemisms of abortion reveals the warped mindset that lies beneath it. Women should not be pressured or coerced by people or by circumstance into choosing between their child’s life and their current situation.
Guam is nearly 4,000 miles from Hawaii. If and when a woman suffers a serious or life-threatening complication from the abortion pill, it will be the doctors in Guam who will be the ones to care for her while two abortionists in Hawaii count their profits for selling abortion pills to women they don’t care for. Abortion is clearly not a procedure that is between a woman and her doctor.
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