BILL 318 FUNDS PRE-BORN INFANT MORTALITY

By Tim Rohr

Bill No. 318-37 is set for a public hearing on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 at 9:00AM. There are so many red flags in and around this bill it's almost (sadly) comical.  

First there is the matter that the bill aims to reduce Guam's near 3rd-world infant mortality rate by sending more money to the government agency which - since the outset of the current administration - appears to have been singularly tasked with increasing Guam's infant mortality rate by killing babies before they can make it out of the womb: the Bureau of Women's Affairs.

Second, the bill purports to fund the training of "doulas." By definition, a doula is: "a woman, typically without formal obstetric training, employed to provide guidance and support to a pregnant woman during labor," and/or "a woman employed to provide guidance and support to the mother of a newborn baby." This sounds good, but since when did local women, or women anywhere, forget how to do what nature designed them to do? 

There is much to say about this, including maybe the real problem is the increasing number of pregnant women on drugs or getting beat up by their boyfriends, but aside from that, given the mortality rate that the bill sets out, perhaps the money would be better spent funding the training of midwives - aka women with obstetric training, especially since there is a dearth of OB-GYN's. 

According to a recent Pacific Island Times report:

The OB-GYN shortage in Guam is aggravated by several local factors. For an island with a population of approximately 154,000, there are only seven working OB-GYNs, and most of them are nearing retirement age, with only three working full-time.

In fact, this fact, the shortage of OB-GYN's, is so glaringly related to the increase in the infant mortality rate, that the bill's intent to hand over $400,000 to Guam's most public advocate of abortion, Jayne Flores, the Director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs, instead of funding either the recruitment of more OB-GYN's or at least the training of midwives, that there is little room for doubt that the bill is nothing more than a cover to make sure more women kill more babies before they're born. 

And then when you look at the list of sponsors the true intent of the bill becomes even clearer, especially since the primary sponsor is the guy who crafted the most vicious pro-abortion legislation ever put to paper:

Sponsor(s) - Thomas J. Fisher / Joe S. San Agustin / Roy A. B. Quinata / William A. Parkinson / Dwayne T.D. San Nicolas / Christopher M. Dueñas / Tina Rose Muña Barnes / Jesse A. Lujan / Amanda L. Shelton

Third, this is an old trick that those of us in the abortion wars are used to seeing: virtue signaling by the pro-aborts, i.e. it's "Hey, look at me, I'm pro-life. I care about mothers and children. You bad people, you only care about abortion. You don't give a damn about the baby once it's born, etc., etc., etc."

Is there anyone with more than one brain cell on this island who doesn't think that Jayne Flores (and her governor godmother) will not make sure that these "doulas" will not be trained to counsel pregnant women to abort?

Lastly (even though there's more), given the sponsors' bowing to the altar of political correctness in the language of their bill - where they ignore the fact that nature has dictated that only women can get pregnant - by continually referencing "women and persons who are or who become pregnant…," the funding cannot go to the Bureau of Women's Affairs. Either Jayne will have to change the name of her bureau or she'll need to add "and Persons."