By Tim Rohr
Senator Fisher's "doula" bill, Bill 318-37, an attempt to hand over $400,000 to Jayne Flores, the Director of the Bureau of Women's affairs and Guam's most prominent, persistnt, and tireless advocate for abortion, apparently went nowhere after the public hearing so it's been snuck in as a one liner in another bill, Bill 355-37, a supplemental funding measure.
Fisher's Bill 318-37, had a public hearing on Sept. 9, 2024. The committee report, filed on Sept. 11, 2024, due to the many testimonies against the bill, runs to over 800 pages. So it looks like Fisher and his co-sponsors decided to dump 318 and sneak it in on an omnibus spending bill as one item among 21.
Clever.
Bill 355-37 had a hearing this past Thursday, October 3, but you can be excused if you didn't know about it. While the bill made news on Sep. 16 upon its introduction, there was no mention of the appropriation to Jayne.
News after the hearing quoted Jayne protesting:
"...this project does not in any way, shape, or form, promote abortion. It is solely to promote healthier pregnancies and healthier birth outcomes in our community. Anyone who claims otherwise is completely and utterly misinformed about this project."
Anti-abortion advocate, Agnes White, responded stating that the doula appropriation "contains no mechanism of public vetting for approval of the doula education content, and that the language of Bill 355 should be clear that certified doulas would not be considered qualified persons to provide informed consent for any medical procedure, particularly for abortion."
And that's the thing, Jayne. If you're not going to use the funds to promote abortion "in any way, shape, or form," then why didn't you propose an amendment at the public hearing for both bills to say so? Well, we know why, don't we.
Meanwhile, though, we can't even protest against the "doula bill" because it's no longer the "doula bill." The only thing before the legislature at this point is a line item appropriating $400,000 to Jayne, all mixed in with a bunch of other stuff in the millions.
Clever.
Hold the sponsors accountable on November 5.
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