Photo: Kelsea Peterson / NBC News. Retrieved from nbcnews.com
For the past two years, medical professionals have been sounding the alarm for what they consider a “maternal care crisis” on Guam. After the closure of the island’s only standalone birth center in December 2022, Guam’s maternity support options are the single hospital and the one doula who helped Marati. Though many U.S. states are starting to reimburse doula care through Medicaid, that coverage doesn’t extend to U.S. territories like Guam. The island has also been without abortion services since the only abortion-providing doctor retired in July 2018.
A CHamoru women-led organization is trying to fill these reproductive access gaps. By training CHamoru doulas, the Birthworkers of Color Collective is preparing women on the island for the increasing frequency of climate disasters like Typhoon Mawar, which struck last spring. On heavily militarized, resource-strapped Guam, the collective is hoping to equip the community with Indigenous-centered reproductive practices and rapid-response birthing support.
“When Americans talk about reproductive access and rights, they’re not thinking about how territories like Guam are doubly, triply impacted by laws and decision-making,” said Stevie Merino, the 35-year-old CHamoru founder of the Birthworkers of Color Collective. “Reproductive justice is not just the birth experience, it’s also about climate injustice, food insecurity and affordable housing.”