Sen. Telena Nelson is facing major backlash following her introduction of Bill 291-36, also known as Guam Heartbeat Act of 2022. This bill was modeled after the Texas Heartbeat Law.

The bill seeks to ban abortions when a heartbeat is detected. If an abortion is performed after a heartbeat is detected, nongovernment officials or employees can file a lawsuit with the Superior Court of Guam or District Court of Guam against anyone that performs or induces the abortion with a minimum fine of $10,000. However, mothers cannot be sued for having an abortion.

Denouncing the bill are members of the lawyer and partner at the Arriola Law Firm, Anita Arriola.

"Even though it says that you can’t have an abortion after six weeks and when a heartbeat is detected most women do not know when they are pregnant because it’s too early in their pregnancy for them to know that," she said.

The bill’s only exception in which an abortion is permitted is when a mother's health or life is at risk due to pregnancy.

"There are no exceptions for rape or incest or sexual assault something that is really so disturbing in an island here on Guam where we have the second-highest rate of sexual assaults and rape in the country," Arriola said. 

According to Arriola, the bill's introduction was highly predictable.

"It’s not uncommon in fact it's pretty common for senators to sponsor anti-abortion bills during election year," she said. "Don’t really understand why they don’t do it during a nonelection year but they do it during an election year obviously to cater and pander to votes and to get re-elected."

Arriola claims they will be writing letters to all of the senators encouraging them to vote against this bill. In addition, the Guam People for Choice started an online petition in opposition of the bill and have almost a thousand votes. KUAM reached out to Nelson for comment and have yet to hear back as of news time.