On behalf of women on Guam and certain other plaintiffs, we filed a class action challenging the Guam anti-abortion law.

The Pennsylvania law does not create a blanket prohibition against abortions, as the Guam law does.

Hope for a Vehicle The principal issue has been whether the Guam law will serve as a vehicle to challenge Roe v. Wade.

Like the Guam law, the provisions in the Pennsylvania law directly challenged earlier rulings by the Supreme Court.

The Guam law had been struck down by lower courts and the Supreme Court had refused to review these rulings.

The Guam law, permitting abortion only where the pregnant woman's life is endangered, remains the most restrictive in the nation.

The Guam law outlawed most abortions, including those in pregnancies involving rape or incest, or when there is a certainty of fetal abnormality.

The Superior Court was given jurisdiction over all cases arising out of Guam laws.

The appeals court said it was bound by Roe v. Wade to apply strict scrutiny in assessing the Guam law.

A Federal district judge here has temporarily blocked enforcement of a new Guam law that is the most restrictive abortion statute in any American jurisdiction.