In 2008, 194 Chamorro women had abortions and 193 in 2009.
Statistics about the ethnic background of women who had abortions were made public as proponents of Bill 54, which deals with the women’s informed consent for abortion, push for its passage.
One of them is Dr. Marjorie DeBenedictis, the team leader of the controversial Esperansa Project.
She said local abortion clinics are substandard and do not accurately provide information to their patients.
“Abortion clinics are not held to the same cleanliness standards, I mean who goes in and inspects these places when they take these dismembered babies, what do they do with the pieces of the baby? How are the body parts “disposed of?” she said.
“Often, the abortion clinics, do not meet OSHA requirements. For example, clinics are required to have doors a certain width for stretchers to get in. Who is performing the anesthesia? Who is monitoring blood pressure and anesthetic, there are numerous cases of women having complications with the anesthetic, alone, with too much anesthesia, and women can potentially have seizures and heart attacks,” she added.
The doctor said women considering abortion should receive all the information they need as there is no law prohibiting the practice.
“Bill 54 is simply a law, about informed consent, if she receives all the information regarding abortion and wishes to proceed then she may,” she said.
But attorney Anita P. Arriola of the Guam Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists told Sen. Frank Aguon the bill is seriously flawed.
She asked the Legislature to reject the bill on grounds that it may be held unconstitutional based on some legal precedents.
Aguon, who chairs the Committee on Economic Development, Health and Human Services, and Judiciary, had since asked the Office of the Attorney General to issue a legal opinion about the bill, which remains pending.
