Federal Court Preserves Abortion Access in Guam

Case: Guam Society of OBGYNs v. Guerrero

March 24, 2023
ACLU

HAGÅTÑA, Guam — A federal district court in Guam today denied Attorney General Douglas Moylan’s request that it lift a decades-old permanent injunction and allow a total abortion ban to take effect. This ruling means essential, life-saving abortion care will remain accessible on the island, and doctors and their patients will not face potential criminal prosecution for providing or accessing care.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and attorneys Anita Arriola and Vanessa Williams filed a brief earlier this month in opposition to reinstating the ban on behalf of three Guam-licensed physicians, including the only two physicians providing abortions to patients in Guam, and Famalao’an Rights, a Guam-based reproductive justice group

Continued: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-court-preserves-abortion-access-in-guam

24.03.2023

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ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project

American Civil Liberties Union

Anita Arriola

Douglas Moylan

Famalao’an Rights

Guam Society of OBGYNs v. Guerrero

Australia – Women share difficulties and stigma around accessing abortion care with Senate inquiry

By political reporter Georgia Hitch
Feb 25, 2023

Feeling shamed and judged, travelling hundreds of kilometres and ending up significantly out of pocket: these are some of the issues raised by women in their own words with abortion access in Australia.

The stories were gathered by Monash University as part of an ongoing research project into what barriers, or enablers, there are for people seeking abortions.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-26/senate-inquiry-universal-reproductive-healthcare-abortion-access/102018234

25.02.2023

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abortion stigma

barriers to abortion access

Australia – The game-changing plan to cut barriers to medical abortion

By Nell Geraets
January 16, 2023

A push is under way to make medical abortion more accessible across Australia by cutting down the regulatory barriers around who can prescribe the pill combination and where it can be stocked.

Non-profit pharmaceutical company MS Health – the private sponsor behind medical abortion in Australia – submitted applications to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in December that proposed expanding the number of health practitioners eligible to prescribe the medication, and removing the requirements for recertification and pharmacist registration.

Continued: https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-game-changing-plan-to-cut-barriers-to-medical-abortion-20230108-p5cb2i.html

How abortion was decriminalised in Australia

The Context | ABC News
Dec 31, 2022
Video: 3:50 minutes

Did you know that up until late 1960s, abortion was banned unless pregnancy posed a risk to life? John Barron explores the history of the decriminalisation of abortion in Australia.

Continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDeRQHRD_lg

31.12.2022

decriminalisation of abortion

The Fight Over Abortion Access In Guam Has Broad Implications For Women In The Pacific

Guam is a hub for medical services in the region, often the first stop for patients seeking care before coming to Hawaii.

By Anita Hofschneider
Dec 23, 2022

This political moment feels familiar to Anita Arriola. Thirty-two years ago, the attorney filed a lawsuit to stop what would have been the most restrictive ban on abortion in the United States from going into effect in her home island of Guam.

It was a bill sponsored by her mother, then a local senator, and unanimously approved by Guam’s unicameral Legislature. Arriola had been a public interest attorney in San Francisco before returning home to the U.S. territory. She took on the case, despite the family tension and the threat of excommunication by Guam’s archbishop.

Continued: https://www.civilbeat.org/2022/12/the-fight-over-abortion-access-in-guam-has-broad-implications-for-women-in-the-pacific/

Australia – ‘Really desperate’: Concerns emerge about access to regional abortion care

By Ellie Mitchell
December 22 2022

A pervasive stigma, hard-to-find information, scarcity of providers, and denial of care on religious grounds. These are all part of the maze regional people who are seeking abortions must navigate in modern Australia.

"One woman left her town because of her experience of being turned away from the local GP," University of Sydney rural pregnancy researcher Anna Noonan told ACM.

Continued: https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/8024978/really-desperate-concerns-emerge-about-access-to-regional-abortion-care/

22.12.2022

GPs in Australia ask for all contraceptives to be subsidised and end to abortion ‘postcode lottery’

Exclusive: ‘We need to do more to improve access to and affordability of the full range of contraceptive options,’ Senate inquiry told

Melissa Davey Medical editor
Wed 21 Dec 2022

All contraceptives should be government subsidised, Medicare rebates for IUD insertion should be increased and larger quantities of contraception pills should be dispensed at once to make abortion and contraception more accessible, the peak body for general practitioners says.

In its submission to the Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive healthcare, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said there were significant barriers to reproductive care, particularly in rural and remote communities.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/22/peak-gp-group-urges-australia-wide-reform-to-abortion-and-contraception-access

21.12.2022

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abortion postcode lottery

Dr Nicole Higgins

Dr Sonia Srinivasan

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners

WA must fully decriminalise abortion and reform outdated laws

Dec 20, 2022
Human Rights Law Centre

Western Australia has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the health and equality of women and all people who experience pregnancy by reforming the state’s outdated abortion laws, the Human Rights Law Centre have told the McGowan Government in a submission to inform the government's drafting of new abortion laws.

While the McGowan Government introduced safe access zones laws in 2021, Western Australia is the only state yet to fully decriminalise abortion. Abortion is legal in most circumstances in Western Australia. However, the regulation of abortion care through an exception in the criminal law has a stigmatising and chilling effect on service provision and patient care.

Continued: https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2022/12/20/wa-must-fully-decriminalise-abortion-and-reform-outdated-laws

20.12.2022

Human Rights Law Centre

Guam Legislature passes abortion ban; governor veto expected

Dec. 16, 2022

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Guam's Legislature on Friday passed a bill prohibiting most abortions, a measure modeled after a new Texas law that leaves enforcement up to private citizen lawsuits instead of criminal prosecution.

Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, who favors abortion rights, is expected to veto the measure.

Continued: https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Guam-Legislature-passes-abortion-ban-governor-17659802.php

16.12.2022

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Guam Heartbeat Act of 2022

Lou Leon Guerrero

near-total abortion ban

Google lifts ban on Aussie abortion ads

By Maeve Bannister
December 15 2022

Google has reversed a decision that stopped Australia's largest abortion services provider placing advertisements on its platform.

It followed calls from Greens Senator Larissa Waters for the company to explain the move while pushing for representatives to give evidence at a parliamentary inquiry into universal reproductive healthcare in Australia.

Continued: https://www.begadistrictnews.com.au/story/8022926/google-lifts-ban-on-aussie-abortion-ads/

15.12.2022