by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Lawmakers convened in session today and voted to move a handful of bills to the voting file including Senator Dennis Rodriguez, Jr.'s Bill 323. The measure would require parental consent for a minor to have an abortion.

"What we don't want, Madame Speaker, is for a minor to proceed with this procedure and for something to go wrong and the only time the parent would be forced to be called is if this minor is in the hospital and at a time when it might be too late," the freshman policymaker announced.

Vice Speaker B.J. Cruz meanwhile disputed claims that the Guam Legislature hasn't done a thing to ensure minors cannot get abortions without parental consent. He said, "So since 1976 and reaffirmed in 1994, the Guam Legislature has made sure that no minor could go to a clinic or a doctor or wherever and get an abortion without getting parental consent. Where the myth arose, it was happening, I have not been able to figure out."

Several amendments were made to the bill and session will resume tomorrow morning at nine o'clock.