U.S. Supreme Declines to Hear Appeal from Guam Supreme Court Ruling in Abortion Case

HAGÅTÑA, Guam — The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected Guam Attorney General Douglas Moylan’s request to overturn the Guam Supreme Court’s decision, in a case brought by the governor of Guam, holding that a harmful and outmoded total abortion ban passed in 1990 has since been repealed by Guam legislature and therefore no longer exists on the books in Guam. The ban had already been permanently blocked in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Anita Arriola shortly after it was passed 30 years ago. This appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was part of AG Moylan’s effort to revive and enforce the ban following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

In a separate case in federal court, Attorney General Moylan sought to lift the permanent injunction blocking the ban in early 2023, but his request to do so — which was opposed by the ACLU and attorneys Anita Arriola and Vanessa Williams — was denied by a federal district court last year. He has since appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit.

Statement from Meagan Burrows, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project:

“Attorney General Moylan should recognize the denial of his petition for what it is: The end of the road in his attempt to deprive the people of Guam of essential health care and the ability to control their own bodies. We hope that the Attorney General will get that message, and give up his misguided crusade to enforce a three-decade-old ban that the territory’s highest court has already said no longer exists on the books. We’ll never stop fighting for the right of people in Guam to access the essential health care they need.”

Statement from Anita Arriola, Guam-based attorney:

“This appeal was nothing more than a vain bid from Attorney General Douglas Moylan to further his own agenda at the expense of the people of Guam, and the U.S. Supreme Court did the right thing in rejecting it. Attorney General Moylan should never have brought this case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and his doing so only shows how far he is willing to go to strip Guamanians of their rights and freedoms. The attorney general should see the writing on the wall, and stop trying to subvert the democratic will of the people of Guam. We want and deserve access to reproductive health care on Guam and we will keep up our fight to protect our people’s ability to make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures.”

Stephanie Lorenzo, co-founder and executive director of Famalao’an Rights:

“We are thankful that the attorney general’s latest effort in his longstanding drive to deny the people of Guam access to life saving health care was rejected. People in Guam already have to navigate a complicated maze of restrictions and barriers to access the health care they need, and the attorney general should stop trying to make things worse. Every person in Guam should have the ability to decide if, when and how to have children, and to access affordable and timely reproductive health care. We will never stop working to ensure that that is a reality for the people of Guam.”

After the last provider of abortion care on the island retired, abortion was unavailable in Guam until 2021, when a lawsuit brought by the ACLU established access to medication abortion by telemedicine. Still, legal barriers remain in place that make accessing abortion in Guam more difficult, including a requirement that all patients make a burdensome, medically unnecessary in-person visit before they can access care through telehealth services.

If revived, Guam’s abortion ban would have severe consequences for pregnant people, who would be left with only three options: Carry a pregnancy to term and give birth against their will, make a costly trip and travel several thousand miles each way to obtain abortion outside of Guam, potentially risking criminalization upon their return, or face severe criminal charges for accessing essential health care in their own community.