If the Supreme Court decides to overturn a precedent that established the right to abortion in the United States, women from remote U.S. territories Guam and Northern Mariana Islands will have to travel further than any other Americans to end a pregnancy.
Hawaii is the nearest state in the United States where abortion is legal. Honolulu, at 3,800 miles (6.100 km) is still closer than Boston, and is approximately half the distance between Los Angeles and Boston.
Vanessa L. Williams, an attorney involved with Guam People for Choice, stated that "a lot of people are seeking abortion care. It might as well be at the moon."
Guam is a small island with 170,000 Catholics south of Japan that makes it difficult to obtain an abortion.
In 2018, the last surgeon who performed surgical abortions in Hawaii, retired. Two Guam-licensed doctors live in Hawaii and see patients remotely. They also mail pills to them for medication abortions. This alternative is only available for 11 weeks of gestation.
There is a chance that even this limited telehealth option may disappear.
Recently leaked draft opinions suggested that the Supreme Court could reverse the landmark Roe V. Wade decision and allow states to ban abortion. Abortion rights advocates estimate that about half of them will likely do so. Oklahoma's governor signed Wednesday a ban on all abortions, with very few exceptions.
According to a Center for Reproductive Rights report, all three U.S. territories located in the Pacific -- Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands -- have the potential to adopt prohibited abortions. The report stated that none of the territories have abortion legal protections and could enact new or revive existing abortion bans.
Many women would find it prohibitive to travel to the closest states that allow abortion -- Hawaii or the U.S. West Coast.
It takes almost eight hours to fly nonstop from Guam and Honolulu. The route is only served by one commercial airline. In May, the cheapest round-trip tickets were found to be $1,500.
Williams stated that many Guam residents require time off work, a hotel and a rental vehicle to travel for an abortion. This adds additional costs.
Three years before Roe, Hawaii legalized abortion. Today, abortion is allowed in the state until the fetus can be born outside of the womb. If a patient's health or life is at risk, then it's legal.
It would be faster to fly to an Asian country that allows abortion, but many Guam-based reproductive rights advocates said that they had never heard of anyone doing it. Kiana Yabut, of Famalao'an Rights, stated that it would require a passport. Many don't have one.
Roe could mean that Guam would revert back to an abortion ban from 1990 if Roe is not repealed. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law was unconstitutional in 1992. However, it has never been repealed.
Guam's deputy attorney general James Canto said this month, while being questioned by a Guam senator, that existing abortion laws from various states and territories would be "the law of the land" in the event Roe were overturned.
