Guam

Gregoria Baty

Guam is predominantly a Catholic island and this religion tends to shape women in the image of the Virgin Mary, a pure and humble mother and wife. Although parents tell them this on Guam, illegitimacy is quite high. One out of nine children is born illegitimate or born out of wedlock. This problem had been taken care of by the extended family during the old days. The nuclear families have left a lot of children neglected and unloved. They grow up criminals, delinquents, or if they get married they grow up as bad parents. Certain effective family-planning methods are prescribed by the Catholic Church. Well, men and women go to church on Sunday but on Monday the woman has the choice of getting her free-birth-control pill at the Department of Health or getting an abortion at the Public Hospital if she needs to, and usually she is free to make this choice. Unfortunately, abortion is not covered by her insurance because the Legislature, mainly made up of men, were pressured by the Catholic Bishop to write a contract by the insurance company not to include abortion among a woman's medical benefits. That's a fact.