WHAT IS THERESE TERLAJE'S POSITION ON ABORTION?

By Tim Rohr

In the run-up to the 2022 Senatorial election, Therese Terlaje, then an incumbent senator and now, in 2026, the Democratic candidate for governor, answered the following questions from the Pacific Daily News about abortion. My comments are in red.

What is your stance on abortion? What measures, if any, would you support to restrict access to abortion ?

Guam law already prohibits abortion except under limited circumstances. There were no abortions reported in 2020 and only six abortions were reported on Guam in 2021.

Yet, since the Supreme Court’s recent decision to place abortion restrictions squarely at the discretion of each state and territory, there is an effort by some to put additional restrictions on abortion on Guam.

This is a very polarizing issue if treated broadly, but I believe this must be treated looking specifically at the language of any proposal and ensure that it is fully vetted by all the people of Guam, especially women. For example, one of the recent bills proposing to limit abortions and to allow neighbors to enforce said limits against neighbors has received opposition from the Guam Medical Society, who testified that it encroaches “on the sacred and private relationship that exists between a patient and their physician.”

This is why I have led not just one but three public hearings on the recent bill and have published all the 1,000+ testimonies and the transcript of the hearings despite the bill not yet receiving enough votes to be fully reported out of committee.

I will continue to exert my leadership in ensuring that every abortion measure that comes in front of my committee is fully vetted by the people of Guam. 

MY COMMENTS

1. Terlaje is wrong about Guam law prohibiting abortion. From the Guam Bureau of Women's Affairs website:

Abortion is currently legal on Guam under 9 GCA 31.20 (enacted in 1978), which states in part that an abortion may be performed:

(A) within 13 weeks after the commencement of the pregnancy; or

(B) within 26 weeks after the commencement of the pregnancy if the physician has reasonably determined using all available means:

              (i) that the child would be born with a grave physical or mental defect; or

              (ii) that the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest; or

(C) at any time after the commencement of pregnancy the physician reasonably determines using all available means that there is a substantial risk that continuance of the pregnancy would endanger the life of the mother or would gravely impair the physical or mental health of the mother. 

Subsections A and B appear to limit abortion; however, Subsection C is the infamous "life and health of the mother" clause, which leaves the door wide open to abort a child "at any time," right up until birth, and up until 2008, before The Esperansa Project backed a ban on partial-birth abortion, even during birth. (The baby's head is crushed in the birth canal while being delivered.)

Guam's "life and health exception" goes even further than many states in that it sets out both "physical and mental health." Initially, health meant that the mother's physical health or life was in danger. Adding "mental" to the health exception opened the door for abortion at any time and for any reason or no reason at all. That's the real law in Guam.

It's weird that Terlaje, a lawyer, didn't know this. Or maybe she did and just wanted to avoid a truthful answer to the question. It was obviously easier to say abortion in Guam is already prohibited. Well, it certainly isn't. And Terlaje, both as an attorney and an incumbent lawmaker, had a responsibility to know this. 

2. Terlaje says there were no reported abortions in 2020 and only six in 2021. Those numbers do not mean that abortion is not an issue. Those numbers only reflect the fact that no one, since mid 2018, was providing abortions in Guam. Prior to the closure of Guam's last abortion clinic in 2018, Guam averaged nearly 300 reported abortions per year. After Governor Lou Leon Guerrero got her way in 2023 and chemical abortions were made available via video consult with two Guam-licensed Hawaii doctors, abortion numbers started climbing again, with 36 reported in 2024.

3. The rest of what Terlaje says is about the failed "Heartbeat Bill." However, Terlaje is careful not to answer the PDN's questions, which were: What is your stance on abortion? What measures, if any, would you support to restrict access to abortion?