
Abortions are allowed in American Samoa under special circumstances.
This was clarified by Acting Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale during a press conference yesterday, while commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade.
Talauega said, the ruling doesn’t outlaw abortions nationwide, rather it allows states to govern on this issue. For American Samoa, the local statute on abortion remains unchanged, he said.
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Under the local statute, abortion means, the termination of human pregnancy for purposes other than delivery of a viable fetus.
An authorized abortion is an abortion performed by a physician upon a consenting woman under the following conditions:
(1) The life of the patient would be endangered by continuance of the pregnancy; or
(2) The continuance of the pregnancy would substantially impair the physical or mental health of the patient.
A person commits the crime of unlawful abortion, if he uses any instrument or device or prescribes or administers any medicine, drug, or other substance which is likely to produce an abortion of a pregnant woman, with purpose to produce an abortion unless the abortion is authorized under the conditions described above.
Unlawful abortion is a class D felony.