The heated discourse over the Reproductive Health bill has divided the nation. While the Philippine government institutions, women’s groups and other concerned organizations pushes for legislation, the opposition lead by the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines campaigns for the junking of the said bill.
The Reproductive Health bill, popularly known as the RH Bill, is a Philippine bill aimed at providing maternal care and universal access to methods and information on birth control.
The RH bill contains provisions addressing issues like maternal and child health, dispensing widespread information and distribution of family planning devices such as birth control pills and IUDs through health care centers, sex education and population control.
According to the National Anti-Poverty Commission undersecretary Florencia Dorotan, the Philippines is the “lone Asian country with no consistent population control.” Dorotan also said that overpopulation has led to the country’s “weaker economy compared to other Asian counterparts.”
Filipino women comprise half of the country’s population and their current situation is quite alarming. According to the Department of Health, maternal mortality rate is high with eleven mothers dying of childbirth and pregnancy-related complications every day. In the 2006, Family Planning Survey of the National Statistics Office showed that maternal mortality rate was recorded at 162 deaths per 100,000 live births, with postpartum hemorrhage, hypertension, and other complications during pregnancy or childbirth as leading causes of maternal deaths.
Infant mortality shares the same trend with seven out of ten infant deaths occur at birth or within a day of delivery.
The National Demographic Health Survey indicated that women at the lowest economic bracket tend to have not only the highest number of children but also the greatest difficulty in accessing reproductive health and family planning services.
RH bill advocates merit the RH bill for providing women the freedom to exercise their right to full access to health care services and family planning programs. Though admittedly, Gabriela Women’s Party says that the HB 4244 is far from perfect. However, the bill “can potentially bring much needed relief to poverty-stricken women and their families by ensuring full access to reproductive health services.”
The Philippine government, as primary duty-bearer, is obliged to provide all means to help women, men and couples, especially among the poor, plan the number and spacing of their children at the same time provide for education and jobs.
President Benigno S. Aquino III said that he is committed to seeing the Responsible Parenthood bill passed into law.
The great debate from the church sector stems from key provisions on taxes funding the distribution of family planning devices that are abortifacients and carcinogenic and information dissemination through all health care centers and school systems to control the population growth.
Alliance for the Family Foundation Philippines, Inc. contends that birth control promotes the “undesirable outcome of depopulation” as seen in many developed countries. On formal sex education, the foundation said that the bill “undermines the right of parents to be the primary educators” and the “right of spouses to found a family in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands of responsible parenthood.”
For the alliance, “poverty and hunger is not caused nor aggravated by overpopulation, but by the wrong economic policies, poor governance and systematic corruption.”
Church leaders and priests have been outspoken on their stand on the RH bill, taking the issue from the pulpit to the streets. Some preachers even tell parishioners that supporting the RH bill is a “serious sin” and may merit excommunication. Others pronounced that supporters of the RH bill are those that are having marital problems.
Notwithstanding the misgivings of some provisions, the RH bill stands as a landmark bill for women’s rights. In principle, women should have the right to their own bodies and the State should protect and uphold that right. Even women OFWs, should be given the access to health support services and information to make the right choices.
The RH bill is forward-looking as it primarily addresses women’s right to reproductive health. RH opposition groups may have brought up valid points for further study and refinement of the bill, however, they have noticeably failed to put up front alternatives that may liberate Filipino women from social injustice, inequality and poverty.
Filipino women, at the center of the discourse, will bear the brunt of whatever result will be coming from Congress deliberations. After 17 years after the first RH bill was filed, lawmakers, RH advocates and opposition groups should then look no further and ask for the answers from women.
Carla's Social Realism 