by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Informed consent law is finally moving forward. According to Public Health director James Gillan after almost a year and a half since the legislation was signed into law and further amended, it appears informational material may finally be available to providers of abortions.

Public law mandates that no abortion be performed or induced without the voluntary and informed consent of a woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed except in the case of medical emergencies. Gillan leads a committee who was tasked at reviewing the booklet and questionnaire that is being finalized this month.

"The high resolution drawings show the baby at various levels of development and talks about some of the risks that might occur by having the abortion done it talks about the availability of things like foster care, adoption, gives a women information that she has the right to seek childhood support and some information on other groups," he said.

Gillan adds all the information is presented in a neutral way and comes at no cost to Public Health as the graphic artist and printing was done and paid by through a private group donation. He adds because of expenses, the material is only printed in English. He hopes to distribute the material to providers of voluntary abortions by March 15.