By Dave Andrusko
http://twitter.com/daveha
Supporters of Bill 52 applaud and hold candles as senators make favorable comments on the bill at the Guam Legislature Building in Hagåtña yesterday.It was a long time in the making, but a bill that would provide a woman with 24 hours to reflect on her decision to abort requires only the signature of Gov. Eddie Baza Calvo to become law.
Senators passed Bill 52–“The Woman’s Reproductive Health Information Act of 2012″ by a vote of 11-4. The bill first was introduced in January 2011, at the request of Gov. Calvo, according to Pacific Daily News.
“Calvo called for yesterday’s special legislative session to ensure the bill moved forward,” Jerick Sablan reported. “The legislative committee on health, chaired by Sen. Dennis Rodriguez Jr., finished working on the bill and issued its report Monday.” Sablan added, “The Calvo administration has said the bill needed to move as soon as it left the committee to ensure it didn’t continue to ‘languish.’”
Mary Spaulding Balch, JD, the director of NRLC’s Department of State Legislation, hailed the vote. “Upon Governor Eddie Baza Calvo’s signature of the informed consent bill, Guam will join 26 states which provide a mother in crisis a short time period for her to reflect on the information given to her prior to an abortion concerning the medical risks associated with abortion, its alternatives, and nonjudgmental, scientifically accurate medical facts about the development of her unborn child before making this permanent and life-affecting decision,” she said.
Gov. Calvo personally thanked the 11 senators who voted for Bill 52.
“They gave women the right to know all the information about a very important medical procedure they may be considering,” Calvo stated. “This day is a victory for women and unborn children whose fate becomes a little brighter once this bill becomes law.”
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