See more at The Esperansa Project Blog
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Saturday, April 10, 2021
WHEN THE CHURCHES FALL SILENT THE ONLY RELIGION LEFT IS THE STATE
Imagine pastors like this - in our own Church. There are some.
Friday, April 9, 2021
THE ESPERANSA PROJECT BLOG
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
TIM ROHR'S LETTER TO THE EDITOR, PACIFIC DAILY NEWS, APRIL 6, 2021
Letter: It's not Guam teens that have been getting abortions
Tim Rohr
ABORTION DEBATE IS WHETHER UNBORN BABY HAS RIGHT TO LIFE
Paul Zerzan's letter to the editor at The Esperansa Project Blog.
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Destigmatizing abortion and hypocrisy Governor LG style
Posted by Bob
"...life will always triumph over death..." from the Governor's Easter greeting.
"...She [the Governor] said abortion is an essential part of a woman's choice for reproductive health,..." from the front page of today's [April 4, Easter] Daily News.
Governor
supports women's reproductive rights, advocates for access to abortion
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero expressed her
continued support for women's reproductive rights during a talk with Famalo'an
Rights this week.
The governor spoke to Kiana
Yabut, Famaloa'an Rights' chief development officer, on Instagram Monday
as the group's last Famala'on Talks speaker for Women's Month.
According
to the group's website Famalao’an Rights is a reproductive
justice initiative focused on:
- addressing
the lack of reproductive health care within the island community;
- de-stigmatizing
discussions surrounding abortion, contraception and sexual
education; and
- ensuring
accurate, fact-based and data-driven information is being shared
regarding social, economic and other implications on the lack of
accessible abortion services within the island community.
The governor expressed her thanks to
the group for being courageous and moving forward in addressing the rights of
women for their reproductive health including access to abortion.
"It's just encouraging for me that
more people are involved," she said.
Long
history
Leon Guerrero shared her long history
of fighting for women's reproductive rights on Guam after coming back from the
states from college. She said when she left for college in the 1970s and became
a nurse, she was stricken at the women coming into the emergency room
hemorrhaging because of a self-inflicted abortions or botched
underground abortions.
Leon Guerrero said at the time access
to safe abortions wasn't available. She said abortion is an essential part of a
woman's choice for reproductive health, that women have choices including
adoption and contraception, but abortion also should be another choice.
"We keep it legal, we keep it
safe, and that we make sure it's done under a very good hygienic
environment," she said.
The governor said being pro-choice
doesn't mean being pro-abortion, but allowing women the right to choose what is
best for their reproductive health.
When she came back to Guam, a law was
passed that severely restricted access to abortions on Guam, which was later
deemed unconstitutional. She and other local women created People for
Choice, a group that fought for reproductive rights. Leon Guerrero said
there was a lot of support for the organization and she was grateful to be part
of a group of courageous women who fought to make sure women had their right to
choose.
Silent
advocacy
She encourages other women to be
courageous but understands the fear and anxiety of being public about being
pro-choice. She said silent advocacy — talking to their children, friends and
husbands about the importance of reproductive health — also helps.
"It's a big risk to be publicly
known, but it's something I truly believe we women have to fight for. No one
else will, but ourselves," Leon Guerrero said.
Since the last doctor who provided
abortions on the island retired in mid-2018 there haven't been any
doctors who provide the service. There have been no abortions reported to
the government of Guam since then.
More Guam news:UOG gets clean audit for sixth straight year
Lawsuit
filed
A lawsuit was filed by the
American Civil Liberties Union and Vanessa L. Williams on behalf of two
Guam-licensed physicians who are based in Hawaii. They sued government of Guam
officials, challenging the part of Guam’s abortion law that requires
information about abortions be provided in person. The ACLU
said doctors can give that information to patients through live video
conference.
The doctors, Shandhini Raidoo and Bliss
Kaneshiro, said in their complaint they are authorized to provide other
patients telemedicine medication abortion and could provide that service to
patients in Guam if it weren’t for the “in person” requirement in the law.
A medication abortion generally
involves a person taking two pills, prescribed by a doctor, to end a pregnancy
up to 10 weeks into the pregnancy, according to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration. Raidoo and Kaneshiro said they are authorized by the FDA to
prescribe the medications through the TelAbortion project.
Leon Guerrero said a short-term hope
for her is that the community allow medicated abortion and allow it through
telemedicine, or train doctors on the island to be certified to prescribe the
medication.
Long-term
hope
A long-term hope is to have a
reproductive health center to support women and provide them needed services
that include abortion, she said. The center can be a place where women could
get pregnancy tests, counseling, pap smears and other beneficial
services for the island community, she said.
Leon Guerrero said the island needs to
do better at talking about sex and contraception. She said many parents tell
their kids not to have sex and avoid talking about contraception, but they
shouldn't.
Parents should recognize their teenage
children could be having sex and they need to be educated about what could
happen. Parents should give their kids the means to prevent pregnancy with
contraception, she said.
Open communication helps prevent the
need to terminate a pregnancy, she added.
Leon Guerrero thanked Famalao'an Rights
for helping educate the communicate and help correct misconceptions.
"I'm very much encouraged with the
work that you do," she said.
Famalao’an Rights is focused on de-stigmatizing discussions surrounding abortion and embraces terms like women's reproductive rights, reproductive health, reproductive justice and pro-choice.
When the question is posed as, "When is it alright to take the life of an innocent, helpless human being?" no amount of sophistry a la Famalao’an Rights provides any answer except NEVER.