After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Hostile

Guam

Guam imposes significant restrictions on abortion, only allowing the procedure in limited clinical circumstances.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 13-week LMP
  • Method Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Notification Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

Protections

Guam1 law does not protect abortion.

Restrictions

Guam law generally prohibits abortion at thirteen weeks, with exceptions on in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal anomaly, or serious risk to the pregnant person’s life or health.2

The territory prohibits D&X procedures.3 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period and in-person biased counseling.4 Guam also limits public funding for abortion.5 Guam law generally requires that a parent, legal guardian,6 or judge7 consent to a minor’s abortion.

Guam’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include reporting requirements.8 Guam law restricts the provision of abortion care to physicians in an approved medical facility,9 which is particularly problematic as the island’s last remaining abortion provider retired in early 2018.10

Under Guam law, providers who violate the territory’s abortion restrictions may be subject to civil liability and felony charges, including criminal homicide.11

Historical Restrictions

Guam does not have a pre-Roe ban. However, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, Guam’s Attorney General sought to revive Public Law 20‑134—a 1990 statute broadly banning abortion—but the federal district court denied the motion, and in April 2025, the Ninth Circuit dismissed the Attorney General’s appeal as moot after the Guam Supreme Court concluded the law had been impliedly repealed, leaving abortion legal in Guam.12

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Guam will likely pass a total ban on abortion. Guam imposes significant restrictions on abortion, only allowing the procedure in limited clinical circumstances. Because Guam lacks a territorial constitution or bill of rights, the only potential source of protection for abortion would be statutory; there is no local constitutional backstop to push back against a complete ban on abortion.

  1. Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States. See 48 U.S.C. § 1421a; U.S. Const. art. IV, § 3, cl. 2. Congress has the power to legislate directly for Guam or to establish a government for Guam subject to congressional control. See U.S.C. § 1421a.Through the Organic Act of 1950, Congress established a Bill of Rights for Guam, modeled on the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. See 48 U.S.C. § 1421b. In 1968, Congress enacted the Mink Amendment, which extended additional constitutional rights to Guam. See 48 U.S.C. § 1421b(u). ↩︎
  2. 9 Guam Code Ann. § 31.20. ↩︎
  3. 10 Guam Code Ann. § 91A104. ↩︎
  4. 10 Guam Code Ann. § 3218.1(b). In 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated a 2021 injunction blocking Guam’s in-person informed-consent requirement, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Dobbs. See Raidoo v. Moylan, 75 F.4th 1115, 1118 (9th Cir. 2023). ↩︎
  5. 10 Guam Code Ann. § 2913(a). ↩︎
  6. 19 Guam Code Ann. § 4A102.a7 4A102. ↩︎
  7. 10 Guam Code Ann. §§ 4A104, 4A107. ↩︎
  8. 10 Guam Code Ann. §§ 3217, 3218; 19 Guam Code Ann. § 4A106. ↩︎
  9. 9 Guam Code Ann. § 31.20. ↩︎
  10. ASSOCIATED PRESS, Guam’s Only Abortion Provider Retires (July 3, 2018); as of this writing, there remains no abortion provider on the island, although Governor Lourdes Leon Guerrero, a former nurse and a supporter of reproductive autonomy, is actively recruiting providers to come to the island, see Caleb Jones, Lack of Abortion Access Troubles Guam’s First Female Governor, ASSOCIATED PRESS (June 7, 2019). ↩︎
  11. 9 Guam Code Ann. §§ 31.21, 91.05, 91.06;10 Guam Code Ann.§§ 3218.1(g)(3), 91A104. ↩︎
  12. See Guam Soc’y of Obstetricians & Gynecologists v. Ada, No. Civ. 90‑00013, Order Denying Mot. for Relief from Judgment (D. Guam Mar. 24, 2023); In re Request of Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero, I Maga’hågan Guåhan, Relative to the Validity and Enforceability of Public Law No. 20‑134, No. CRQ23‑001, 2023 Guam 11 (Guam Oct. 31, 2023); Guam Soc’y of Obstetricians & Gynecologists v. Moylan, No. 23 15602 (9th Cir. Apr. 28, 2025) (order dismissing appeal as moot). ↩︎