Culture in court :

notes and reflections on abortion in Guam

by

Donald H. RUBINSTEIN *, PhD, MPH

Guam's recent anti-abortion law (PL 20-134) enacted in March 1990 is perhaps the most restrictive example of such legislation in any US flag area. Although the social, legal, and political aspects of the abortion debate in Guam provided a microcosm of the wider " Pro-Choice " vs " Pro-Life " confrontation in the US, in cultural terms the Guam debate was unique. The defense of Guam's anti- abortion law was presented in large measure as a protection of Guam's " special identity and heritage ". In the defendant's memorandum in support of a partial motion for summary judgement, there were at least eight allusions to culture. The implicit argument was that the Guam Legislature, in passing the anti-abortion law, acted " to protect the indigenous... customs of... Guam " in regard to abortion. Social and religious leaders of Guam have presented the cultural argument in very explicit terms, by insisting that the Chamorro language lacks a term for " abortion ", and that abortion was non-existent in indigenous Chamorro culture.

In other respects, the controversy surrounding Guam's anti-abortion law followed the form of such debates in the US mainland. Public rallies were held to endorse both sides, professional advocates from outside the community appeared soon afterwards to promote one cause or the other, and public leaders were called upon by the media to answer questions and define their position. Despite the insistence of island leaders that the issue was strictly a local matter, without legal or political implications outside of Guam, the debate quickly received national media

tion throughout the US. Not only was it seen as a potential legal test at the US Supreme Court level of the current abortion rights guaranteed under Roe vs Wade, but the Guam law also had significant and unforeseen political repercussions for the territory, by seriously undermining, at least temporarily, US Congressional support of Guam's movement for self-determination (North, 1990).

The introduction of " culture " as a term in Guam's abortion debate is part of an increasingly prevalent process in the Pacific : the objectification and idealization of culture, and its rhetorical use in local and national level political discourse (Keesing, 1989). In this process, culture — including history and language — is mythologized and reformulated, in order to serve as rationalizations of contemporary social movements. Culture, custom, and tradition become powerful symbols in political discourse, and are molded and manipulated by local elites. Traditional culture is " reinvented " ex cathedra to legitimize new social ideologies or political structures, and to resolve contradictions between ancestral practices and current Christianity (Keesing, 1982).

While this process is a normal one of cultural inventiveness, it is nevertheless useful to reflect critically upon the resultant beliefs and statements. This paper offers a review of historical and ethnographic references to abortion in Guam and Micronesia. The material reviewed here is offered not as a way of " setting the record straight ", but rather as a basis for a more informed and critical approach to cultural and historical understanding.