{"id":252976,"date":"2021-09-13T10:42:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T15:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=252976"},"modified":"2021-09-12T23:40:52","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T04:40:52","slug":"guam-opens-door-telemed-abortion-hawaii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/guam-opens-door-telemed-abortion-hawaii\/","title":{"rendered":"Guam opens door to telemed abortion pill distribution from Hawaii"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A federal judge\u00a0issued<\/a> a ruling\u00a0last week that has opened the door for the use of telemedicine abortions in Guam.\u00a0The ruling, which will remove the requirement for “in-person communications” prior to taking the abortion pill, came in response to a lawsuit filed by two Hawaii-based abortionists.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Guam’s only abortionist retired, making Guam seemingly abortion-free though abortion remained legal. Though there are claims that doctors in Guam were quietly giving the abortion pill to women, there were complaints from abortion advocates that women in Guam had to fly to Hawaii in order to get the deadly drug regimen. Hawaiian abortionists Dr. Shandhini Raidoo and Dr. Bliss Kaneshiro filed a lawsuit requesting that they be given the right to prescribe the abortion pill via telemedicine. There is obvious financial benefit to them in the arrangement to expand their abortion pill practice to women in Guam without any in-person exam beforehand.<\/p>\n

“For people in Guam, just like across the United States, having safe, legal access to abortion means that we can make our own decisions about our lives, our families, and our futures,” said Vanessa Williams, an attorney who aided in the push for telemedicine abortions in Guam.<\/p>\n

But there are two problems with this image of freedom.<\/p>\n

The first is that the court ruling did not give the women of Guam access to “safe” abortion. There is no such thing. In every abortion, at least one human being’s life is intentionally ended. In addition, untold numbers of women have been injured or killed by legal abortion since Roe v. Wade<\/em>. However, due to the fact that only about half of all US states report<\/a> abortion complications, the number is likely higher than is currently reported. Pro-life watchdog group Operation Rescue<\/a> has been tracking known instances of injury and death at abortion businesses around the nation. These are likely just a fraction of the actual instances of serious abortion complications.<\/p>\n