Guam lawmakers passed a bill on December 16 that would protect preborn children from abortion after a heartbeat can be detected. However, the territory’s pro-abortion governor, Lou Leon Guerrero is expected to veto the measure. Because the measure passed by a vote of eight to seven and ten votes are needed to override a veto, it is unlikely that the preborn protections will stand.
Modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Act, the Guam Heartbeat Act of 2022 protects preborn children from abortion after a detectable heartbeat. This usually occurs around six weeks, though the heart begins beating between 16 and 22 days after fertilization. The measure would also allow private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who aids or abets in an abortion procedure, though the mother herself cannot be sued.
“The Guam Heartbeat Act of 2022 was created for one reason–and one reason only,” said Senator Telena Nelson, the bill’s sponsor, in April. “It is a bill to protect—to protect—our most vulnerable and give every single human with a heartbeat the fighting chance to live a life, to be able to breathe, to live freely, and experience the opportunity to be on this Earth, like all of us here today.”
Abortion advocates put on a strong campaign to try and sway public opinion against the law, engaging in fearmongering by insisting that a preborn protection law wouldn’t make abortion rarer, it would just make it more dangerous. But this doesn’t hold up when considering the facts — a recent report by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission revealed that abortions dropped 97% in the month following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, when the state’s pro-life trigger law went into effect. Though Guam is heavily Catholic, the abortion industry appears to have been successful there. In August, NBC News reported that lawmakers had received 900 written testimonies against the pro-life bill and only 284 in support.
Currently, all abortions on the island are committed via the abortion pill, as the last surgical abortionist left the island territory in 2018. The territory also mandates a 24-hour waiting period, and abortion-minded women must review counseling materials and sign a checklist that shows they understand the various aspects of having an abortion.
According to the Honolulu Civil Beat, Guerrero has until December 28 to either sign or veto the bill, although she has been very vocal about her support for abortion in the past. “I truly believe that women should have control of their bodies,” Guerrero told The Associated Press in 2019. “I’m very sad and very nervous about what’s happening across the nation.”
