All three U.S. territories in the Pacific — Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa — have the potential to adopt abortion prohibitions.
A recently leaked draft opinion indicated the Supreme Court could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and allow individual states to ban abortion. About half of them would likely do so, abortion rights advocates say. Oklahoma got a head start Wednesday when its governor signed a measure prohibiting all abortions with few exceptions.
Williams said many Guam residents need time off work, a hotel room and a rental car to travel for an abortion, adding more costs. Without Roe, Guam could revert to an abortion ban dating to 1990. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law unconstitutional in 1992, but it has never been repealed.
It made it a misdemeanor for a woman to have an abortion, or for anyone to ask or advise her to have one.