US appeals court reinstates Guam in-person abortion counseling law

[August 02, 2023]  By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) -A federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated a law requiring that women in Guam meet with doctors in person before obtaining abortions, a restriction that has made terminating pregnancies in the U.S. territory difficult due to a lack of doctors.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a judge's 2021 ruling that blocked enforcement of the law, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had established a national right to abortions.

The Guam law was blocked at the urging of two Hawaiian doctors who say they are the only Guam-licensed physicians providing abortion care in the territory after the last doctor on the island who provided abortions retired in 2018.

The lower-court ruling cleared the way for the doctors, Shandhini Raidoo and Bliss Kaneshiro, to provide care via telemedicine from nearly 4,000 miles (6,437 km) away in Hawaii, where abortion is legal, and prescribe abortion pills remotely.

But U.S. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump, said that following last year's Supreme Court ruling, "the people’s representatives - not judges - decide whether to allow, ban, or regulate abortions."

"Guam can enact laws that it believes are best for its people, even if some people might strenuously oppose such laws or think them unwise," Lee wrote for a three-judge panel.

Lee said the COVID-19 pandemic also showed that a telephonic or video meeting could be a "poor substitute" for an in-person one. Doctors or their qualified agents must during the meetings provide information on risks and adoption options.

Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a lawyer for the doctors with the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement called the ruling disappointing, saying it "imposes unnecessary obstacles on people seeking abortion in Guam."

A representative for Guam Attorney General Douglas Moylan, a Republican whose office defended the law, did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Planned Parenthood, 20 U.S. states have abortion bans or restrictions in place following the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling, which was powered by its conservative majority.

Moylan has sought in court to revive a blocked 1990 law banning nearly all abortions. Governor Lou Leon Guerrero, a Democrat, in December vetoed a bill that would bar most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in BostonEditing by Bill Berkrot and Deepa Babington)

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