Abortion will remain legal in Guam after a federal judge denied a request to overturn a long-standing permanent injunction blocking a total ban on abortion.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Guam denied Attorney General Douglas Moylan’s (R) request to vacate a federal court’s 1990 injunction that prevented Guam from enforcing a law that would have made it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion, and would have criminalized any patient who has an abortion.
The ruling means abortion treatment will remain accessible on the island. If the ban had been upheld, it would have created a significant obstacle, as residents of the remote US territory who want an abortion cannot simply drive across state lines to receive a procedure.
Hawaii is the closest US state to Guam where abortion is legal, but Honolulu is nearly 4,000 miles away.
Moylan argued that the original injunction was based on Roe v. Wade made abortion a constitutional right. When the Supreme Court reversed that decision, the legal basis for the injunction ceased to exist.
However, Chief Justice Frances M. Tydingco-Gatewood wrote that Moylan failed to meet his burden of proving whether the US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization supported the removal of the injunction in its entirety.
Guam law still largely prohibits abortions after 13 weeks, although medical abortions are still available through telemedicine.
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