HEROLD AND HIS
STAND REGARDING AN ENHANCED AND INTENSIFIED APPROACH TO THE PHILIPPINES’
IMPLEMENTED REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10354 ALSO KNOWN AS “AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A
NATIONAL POLICY ON RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH”
Introduction
Adolescents in the Philippines come up
against innumerable political, social, legal, and religious hurdles from
allowing unbarred access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and
options, often putting their well-beings at higher risk of unplanned pregnancy,
abortion, sexually transmitted infections and HIV, and other health and
development problems. As a matter of fact, according to Guttmacher Institute
(2013) adolescent girls are specifically vulnerable to inadvertent formation of
babies and maternal morbidity and mortality, comprising of sequelae arising
from unsafe abortions. In addition, they also stated that young parents often
must halt their education, resulting in limited employment opportunities as
adults. Policies that ensure and improve adolescents’ access to contraceptive
information and services can reduce these health and social problems. This
position paper examines how the Philippines’ new reproductive health law,
Supreme Court rulings, and related policies impact on the specific needs of
adolescents. It is firmly believed that the Philippine government, Department
of Health, and Local Government Units should intensify more the law’s
implementation to promote a Philippine environment of responsible parents,
parents-to-be, or the general mass about their reproductive options without
discrimination and fear. Under the revised bill signed to law, it mandates the
government to “promote, without bias, all effective natural and modern methods
of family planning that are medically safe and legal”. The law contradicts the
belief of abortion -- recognized herewith as illegal and punishable by
Philippine laws with exemptions according to its components as “the government
shall ensure that all women needing care for post-abortion complications shall
be treated and counseled in a human, non-judgmental and compassionate manner”.
To delineate, it is not allowed under the revised law the proper and professional
execution of abortion under all known-DOH outlets and hospitals, leaving young
mothers having no choice but to execute the pre-and-during-abortion processes
having unaided guides with midwiferies. Under Republic Act No. 10354 or also
known as An Act Providing For a National Policy on Responsible Parenthood and
Reproductive Health under Section 3, Letter H, it declares that “the state
shall respect individuals’ preferences and choice of family planning methods
that are in accordance with their religious convictions and cultural beliefs,
taking into consideration the obligations under various human rights
instruments”. As well, the bill calls for a “multi-dimensional approach” that
integrates a component of family planning and responsible parenthood into all
government anti-poverty programs. Under the bill, age-appropriate reproductive
health and sexuality education is required from grade five to grade ten using
“life-skills and other approaches” In addition, the bill also mandates the
Department of Labor and Employment or DOLE to guarantee the secured
reproductive health rights of its female employees. Companies with less than
200 workers are necessitated to impart into partnership with health care
providers in their area for the delivery of reproductive health services.
Employers with more than 200 employees shall provide reproductive health
services to all employees in their own respective health facilities. Employers
shall inform employees of the availability of family planning services. They are
also obliged to monitor pregnant working employees among their workforce and
ensure they are provided half-paid prenatal medical leaves for each month of
the pregnancy period that they are employed. In addition to the law’s
components, the national government and local governments units will have to
ensure the availability of reproductive health care services, including family
planning and prenatal care; and lastly, as a mode of security, the law also
states that any person or public official who prohibits or restricts the
delivery of legal and medically safe reproductive health care services will be
meted penalty by imprisonment or a fine. According to Section 24 of the same
article, any violation of the Act or commission of the foregoing prohibited
acts shall be penalized by imprisonment ranging from one (1) month to six (6)
months or a fine of Ten Thousand pesos (P10,000.00) to One hundred thousand
pesos (P100,000.00), or both fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the
competent court. Provided that if the offender is a public officer, elected or
appointed, he/she shall also suffer the penalty of suspension not exceeding one
(1) year or removal and forfeiture of retirement benefits depending on the
gravity of the offense after due notice and hearing by the appropriate body or
agency. If the offender is a juridical person, the penalty shall be imposed
upon the president or any responsible officer. An offender who is an alien
shall, after service of sentence, be deported immediately without further proceedings
by the Bureau of Immigration. If the offender is a pharmaceutical company, its
agent and/or distributor, their license or permit to operate or conduct
business in the Philippines shall be perpetually revoked, and a fine triple the
amount involved in the violation shall be imposed. Aside from recapitulating my
stand about “the Philippine government, Department of Health, local government
units should intensify the law’s implementation more to promote a Philippine
environment of responsible parents, parents-to-be, or the general mass about
their reproductive options without discrimination and fear”, it is also
heightened that the state should recognize and guarantee the promotion of
gender equality, gender equity, women empowerment and dignity as a health and
human rights concern and as a social responsibility, as well enhance the
advancements and protection of women’s human rights shall be deemed central to
the efforts of the state to address reproductive health. As well, it is
amplified that the state shall defend the right of spouses to support a family
in accordance with their religious convictions and the demands of responsible
parenthood, the right of children to assistance, including proper care and
nutrition, and special protection from all neglect, abuse, cruelty,
exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to their development, the right
of the family to a family living wage and income; and lastly, justify the right
of families or family associations to participate in the planning and implementation
of policies and programs. The youth, most especially, is targeted as the most
susceptible from having unplanned pregnancy, abortion, sexually transmitted
infections and HIV, and other health and development problems. Even the
steadfast, brave, and strong-willed individual could feel weak and vulnerable
when a life-and-death-situation choice is made to consider. A lot of
reproductive health stories in the Philippines are often left unpublished --
literally in journalism or sprout-in-conversing in real life. Some lays into
abortion, the others being infected in HIV, and the few sufferings from
unplanned pregnancies. These topics are considered taboo in Philippine culture,
our country is not ready for these discussions just yet. To narrate some of the
stories, Wanggo Gallaga is a son of a critically acclaimed filmmaker, he was
working as the features-editor for a college magazine when he learned he was
HIV positive. His family already know that he is gay and insisted to use
protection, Gallaga shrugged these reminders as he thought that STIs and HIVs
only happen to people overseas. With all the support he has, he feels extremely
privileged and lucky for his family, friends, and colleagues. Not all HIV
stories in the Philippines are as fond of love as with Gallaga’s case, most of
these individuals are often unsupported, unfunded, and unloved by the time
their respective families know their sexual health, often leaving the affected
with disgrace marks upon their foreheads. Other stories where desperate Filipinos
are seeking to terminate their pregnancies that have flocked to a secret online
forum where abortion services are advertised and where other women rate their
abortionists. The online forum includes positive reviews and deeply disturbing
accounts of unsafe abortions including backstreet abortionists terminating
pregnancies of up to 7 months, and lastly under the same forum, a group of
medical doctors provide safe abortions to women, in the belief that women have
the right to make choices for their own well-being. There is always an adamant
consistency of battle to have a much matured, medical conversation and
discourses regarding sex habits, and sex education in the Philippines. There is
still a gap of huge inability to have an elevated discussion about sex in the
country due to its conservativity. We still carry with us many of our old value
systems that hinder a more scientific approach to dealing with topics about
sex. Conservative and extremely patriarchal. This inability to have a healthy,
mature conversation about sex has stopped us from making progressive strides
with HIV awareness and overall reproductive health discussions. We should give
proper sex education and make protections more accessible to people.
Numerical
stands
Statistics speaks volumes. According to
the Guttmacher Institute (2013), among women between age 15–19, 10.1% is
defined having been pregnant in 2013, up from 6.5% in 1993. The birth rate
annually in this age group has remained nearly sustained in the last 20 years—
basing from 50 births per 1000 in 1993 to 57 in 2013. In sharp disparity, all
other age groups marked firm declines in the same period. Meanwhile, according
to Stat Compiler (2018), the country’s teen birth rate is currently higher than
the average of 40 per 1000 for the South East Asian region and 15 per 1000 for
the Western Pacific region. As a matter of fact, most adolescents uttered
practicing abstinence as their main method to avoid pregnancy. However, this
behavior is changing slowly towards more engagement in sexual activity. Among
teenage women 15–19, those appearing having sex rose from 9.1% in 1993 to 14.7
in 2013. Present-day contraceptive usage in this group of age also sky-rocketed
from 0.7 to 2.4% in the same period. While contraceptive use may be increasing,
the prevalence rate is still low compared to the proportion of adolescents
already having sex. Low contraceptive usage continues even among adolescents
who are married formally or in informal unions. In 2013, among all age groups
of married women, adolescents had the lowest percentage rate of use at 20.6%
and the highest unmet need at 28.7% In addition, according to the World Health
Organization (2017), adolescent pregnancies impart a part in the cuts of the
pies to maternal deaths, although the methods used in the country cannot
precisely and accurately estimate maternal mortality by age groups, it is
generally given credence to that preventing unintended pregnancies can prevent
maternal deaths. Adolescents are particularly at risk because they have less
access to contraceptive services. Adolescent pregnancies have been shown to
contribute to early childhood deaths. As stated by a study of demographic and
health survey (DHS) last 2013, “mother’s age less than 18 (risk ratio = 2.13)
is the sole factor most connected with enhanced risk of under-5 mortality in
the Philippines.” The government began a population growth reduction programs
in the late 1960s with the aim of elevating the promotion of socio-economic
development. Fertility reduction through modern contraception was the chief
strategy. This phase lasted until the mid-1980s almost entirely under a martial
law government. After the regime was ousted in 1986, a period of policy drift
followed. The Catholic hierarchy played a crucial role in the ouster and became
very influential in the new government that took over and began to limit
government programs on contraception and family planning. Around this time, the
International Conference on Population and Development took place in 1994,
introducing a new framework of reproductive health and rights and dropping the
centrality of population growth reduction. In addition, the Department of
Health (DOH) of the Philippines adopted this framework in 1998 and there were
various attempts at resuming and strengthening a national population and
reproductive health programs. In the ensuing years, however, conservatives
repeatedly defeated efforts to pass a law on reproductive health and rights
that would ensure public funding and sustainability of this work. In December
2012, after years of campaigning by civil society organizations, the
“Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act” or reproductive health
(RH) law was finally enacted. For adolescents, the RH law mandated the
provision of comprehensive sexuality education. On contraceptive services,
however, the law required parental consent for minors, unless the adolescent
had been pregnant before. Three months later, the Supreme Court halted the
implementation of the law after conservative groups challenged its
constitutionality. It took more than a year for the Supreme Court to rule that
the RH law is generally constitutional, except for eight provisions that it
nullified. Among the provisions removed is the parental consent exception for
minors with a previous pregnancy. Given the evolution of the legislative
context through the past few decades, this position paper subtly evaluates
whether current Philippine policies agree with the human rights framework
developed by WHO on access to quality contraceptive information and services.
This first attempt to review and analyze policies on adolescents’ sexual and
reproductive health in the Philippines would allow a deeper insight on how
these various historical events and policy changes have affected the present national
normative guidelines that would determine the range and quality of services
available to the clients, with adolescents in particular. In 2000, there was an
estimated 78,900 women hospitalized for post abortion care, 473,400 women had
abortions and the abortion rate was 27 per 1,000 women aged 15-44 per year. The
national abortion rate changed little between 1994 and 2000; however, large
increases occurred in metropolitan Manila (from 41 to 52) and Visayas (from 11
to 17). In addition, the proportions of unplanned births and unintended
pregnancies increased substantially in Manila, and the use of contraceptive
methods skyrocketed in Manila and Visayas. The increase in the level of induced
abortion seen in some areas may reflect the difficulties women experience in
obtaining modern contraceptives as a result of social and political constraints
that affect health care provision, highlighting that policies and programs
regarding both post abortion care and contraceptive services need mammoth
improvement.
For
the Roman Catholic Church
The separation of the Roman Catholic
Church and the Philippine Government has been a debate since time immemorial
regarding the law’s passing. As indicated by Sison (2011), the highlight of the
Catholic Church's excusal of the RH law isn't about a Roman Catholic discretion
yet an appearance of the "significant guidelines and wants of the Filipino
people.” The Church’s locale is driven on her dissent with the proposal's
anti-life stand and problematic attitudes towards issues that affect religious
expression. Christianity insists that artificial birth control methods are
offensive and degrading to life because these tend to suppress the formation of
life, more specially in the womb of the mother. Meanwhile, in customary
Catholic positions, devices or means that legitimately ruin the advancement of
a fetus is derogatory to life-henceforth, immoral, and shameless. In the
language of reproductive health, fetus removal cases show “neglected
requirements for contraception” which, whenever utilized, could have forestalled
undesirable pregnancies. While the RH structure associates contraception as a
necessary solution in the equation, the Church finds it problematic and full of
mistakes. It is in this point-of-view that the basic propositions in the law
are regarded as improper. In addition, the Church has assembled its forces to
demonstrate its resistance to the proposal, thus the opposition has resounded
in many local churches in different parts of the archipelago. The local
resistance offered by the Roman Catholic Church is currently being shared by
the evangelical churches, and Islamic believers. These church networks in the
nation have utilized every means possible to incapacitate the danger provided
by this then-bill-now-law.in light of this political and religious dilemma,
this position paper portrays how the present discussion between the Philippine
Church and lawful proponents on the proposed Responsible Parenthood Bill in
congress is established on three problematic attitudes and presuppositions that
have served to hinder the resolution of the case. The first is the belief in
the detachment of the Church and State, next is the disposition towards the
family, and lastly, it reflects the understanding of human sexuality and life.
This position paper will only discuss the belief in the separation of the
Church and State. One of the contentions laid is about the supposed severance
of Church and State. The Church may have no direct political or economic
prerequisite yet possesses numbered political and social responsibilities to
seek after the needs of each member so that a just and peaceful condition
willed by God prevails. Unfortunately, a simple social request is regarded no
less by Friedrich August von Hayek as being incongruous freedom individually.
The 1974 Nobel laureate's neo-liberal position portrays his thoughts as the
subject of a huge religious disquisition. At about a similar time that the
foundation of the western recommendation of separation was created, the Vatican
set in motion its vocal adherence for religious freedom through Dignitatis
Humanae. Entangled in the democratic condition to understand the voices of the
majority but very driven to show the detachment of Church and State, the
past-Aquino government was challenged to esteem the proposition of religious
freedom. Ever since the Spanish occupation in the 19th century, the Church has
generally granted a critical job in Philippine legislation. Throughout the rule
of the Spaniards, as per Aprieto (1981) “Church impact was so strong, thinking
got uniform, irregular thoughts were denounced, and unique grants were
non-existent”. However, Aguilos (1999) said that this movement was not the case
under the American regime where the detachment of both institutions was
emphasized. Should the now-Duterte government and the legal framers of the law
hide under the mantle of separation and disregard any attempts to stop its
enactment? The severance revered in the nation’s constitution adheres to the
boundary between the temporal order expressed in political life and the
religious order observed and promoted by the Church but does not exclude either
side. The recommendation of severance causes a post-metaphysical mode of
authenticity of political system elsewhere from the divine and toward a civil
foundation. This transference thus requires that legitimization for coercive
law is made through an open utilization of reason as formulated and defended by
John Rawls (Shabani 2011). While Shabani's point may have stressed the shift of
centering in the authenticity of political principle, various literary works
have referred to the significance and meaningfulness of religious participation
in the public realm via scholarship in education, theology and Sacred
Scriptures. In addition, Kwan (2002) cites Gordon Kaufman, who believed that
state-funded universities need religious philosophy to address the “religious
issues faced by pluralistic societies” (2002, 76). Terrence Copley (2008, 24)
took notice of the fact that religious participation should enjoy equal spaces
in society together with those who wish to advance secular indoctrination,
which thus far has gone unnoticed. In his paper “The Task of Systematic
Theology in the Contemporary University,” the regarded scholar Wolfhart
Panenberg likewise stresses the role of religious studies about the
investigation of the truth in the secular world (Kwan 2002, 66). Pondering
these critical positions, strict impartiality in an educational domain seems
unbalanced as it undermines the rights of those who seek religious
understanding side by side with those who seek secular advancement (Baring
2011). Following Kwan and Copley, this knowledge has uncovered the confinements
of the common contention. Tanner (2010) has proposed how the Christian
experience of God in Christ can be a model for a social vision that advances
networks and good causes despite decent variety in the political field. The
custom Christian view is that it is the recommendations of religion that ought
to enter the world (Clowney 1979, 9). The Church in this regard articulates the
role of religious argument in secular society, which incorporates providing
content of religious philosophies alternatives “persuasion, evidential and the
separation of Church and State is a traditional subject of discussion under the
church and state paradigm (Edge and Harvey 2000) within discourses of law and
religion. Edge and Harvey consider two different standards under this zone,
specifically the civil liberties and the individual community religious models.
The discussion revolving around the guideline of detachment incorporates places
that underline or depict the independence of either the State or the Religious
communities. The recent case in France (Adrian 2009) with respect to the
restricting of the Muslim veil reprises the issue of political self-rule at the
expense of religious observances. While the division is established on moral,
legitimate and political grounds (Audi 1989), the French experience voices out
the State's right to make everything fair among religious stakeholders. Scott Idleman
has contended that “religious free exercise must often be subordinated to
preserve the supremacy of civil law and government” (2000, 183). From an
American encounter, Stephen Feldman (2000) calls out that the Christian
religiosity of America is an appearance of the looming dominance of religion in
the common circle. Okuyama (2009) also presents the issue of religion and
legislative issues as brewing problems in Japan. An example from defenders
insisting on expanded religious autonomy from the law (Brady 2006/2007) is a
significant case. Within this discussion, Hamilton (2006/2007) offers counter
contentions to Brady's position. The discussion created by the standard of
detachment is made progressively intense by simultaneous discussions on the
revival of the esteemed spot of religion in the social circle. The recurrence
of religion as a factor in the political and social existence of the state
(Turner 2011; Habermas 2005; Molendijk, Beaumont, and Jedan 2010; Haynes 2009)
has become the ongoing focal point of conversations in the field of sociology
and humanities. European grants underscore this point in numerous discussions.
The downfall of the Secularization Theory to stick to the destruction of
religion in the public eye has been admitted (Norris and Inglehart 2004, 4).
Thus, sociological discourse has made new headings globally when the
orientation of their requests noticed the move from Christian fixating towards
discourses on the “post-secular”. For Habermas (2005), the post-secular move
will have to contend with the need to comprehend the foreign religious
orientation in a secular sphere. Clearly, the developing secularism in a given
society exemplified in liberal democracies (Bader 2003) does not really mean
the misfortune or impeding of religion in the commercial space. The Philippine
situation is recognized from this global movement as it continues to depict the
extreme collaboration between traditional Christian norms and the political
leadership. One way of portraying the interaction is to characterize the extent
to which religion can contribute to a real change in the nation's political
culture and system (Gonzalez 2010; Cosmao 1984). The heuristic roles (Audi
2000, 75). Paul Hanson, the eminent Bible scholar from Harvard University,
verbalizes the fundamental connection that swings between worship and political
life (2005a), shows Christian conduct in political life (2005b) and the world
(1981). This arrangement of talks emphatically focuses on the biblical basis of
any political participation by a Christian adherent. These insightful works
decide the profundities of the scriptural points of view of the relationship
between worship and secular life. The strength of this political engagement was
well defined during the numbered years of Jaime Cardinal Sin. The argumentative
issue of religion going into the open domain— for example in public education,
cultural life or political life—is reflected in the battle to comprehend the
degree to which strict religious participation in political life can be made
legal. The stake of the detachment of Church and the State in this sphere rests
not so much on partition per se but in the distinguished identities of two
known realms that somehow converge in a particular social playground (for
example. democracies).
Further
emphasis
Nearly nine years since the first RH
bill was filed to Congress in December 2001, it was already considered history.
The inability to fully pass the Reproductive Health components has been averse
to the well-being and lives of Filipinos particularly women and children.
Representatives from the congress and from those in executive positions must
take their stands that clearly support wide access to reproductive health
information, supplies, and services. This will spell wide differences for the
lives of many. This position paper explains the reasons why the Reproductive
Health Law is important to the Philippines. First, it aims to respond to the clamor
of the Philippine population who want the Reproductive Health Care Bill passed
into law. To further explain, Filipinos are clamoring for the transcendence of
the Reproductive Health Care Bill (RH bill) into law without reservations. The
2008 national and Manila City studies of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) both
affirm that a greater part of Filipinos want the RH bill to be passed into law
without reservations., 71% and 86%, separately. Without a clear reproductive
health care policy, we are helpless before national and neighborhood government
authorities who may decide to advance the regular family arranging strategy
(NFP) and deny access to the full scope of contraceptive strategies.
Previously, we saw the instances of the then Health Secretaries Dayrit and
Duque who only advanced NFP under clear guidelines from Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
and the previous Manila City Mayor Atienza who viably prohibited access to
present day contraceptives in Manila City because of his EO 003 (Series of
2000). The poor women, adolescent women, rural and indigenous women are the
ones most experiencing unintended pregnancies and closely spaced pregnancies.
Their births are normally unattended by trained health care professionals.
Second, in forestalling unintended pregnancies, to delineate, about a portion
of all pregnancies in the Philippines (around 1.43 million a year) are
unintended. The Health Department has noticed that Filipino women, on average,
have one kid more than they need. According to 2008 National Demographic and
Health Survey (2008 NDHS), one of every three births is either undesirable or
confounded; over portion of wedded ladies age 15-49 do not need another child;
82 percent of wedded ladies need either to space their births or to confine
childbearing. The complete neglected requirement for family arranging is 22
percent with most elevated neglected requirement for ladies age 15-19, least
quintile of riches, country ladies and ladies in the Autonomous Region of
Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Twenty-six percent of ladies aged 15-24 have just
started child-bearing. The contraceptive predominance rate was just 36%
utilizing current strategies. In 2006, the CEDAW Committee prescribed the
Philippines to reinforce measures focused on the counteraction of undesirable pregnancies,
including by making far reaching scopes of contraceptives more generally
accessible and with no limitation and by expanding information and mindfulness
about family planning. The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
(CESCR Committee) expressed concern in its 2008 Concluding Observations on the
Philippines on the "lacking regenerative wellbeing administrations and
data, the low paces of preventative use and the troubles in getting access to
counterfeit strategies for contraception, which add to the high paces of young
pregnancies and maternal deaths'' in the nation. The CESCR Committee asked it
to "embrace every single suitable measure to ensure the sexual and
regenerative privileges of ladies and young ladies, entomb alia, through measures
to decrease maternal and newborn child mortality and to encourage access to
sexual and contraceptive wellbeing administrations, including access to family
planning, and information. In its 2009 Concluding Observations on the
Philippines, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) expressed
serious concern on “the inadequate reproductive health services and
information, the low rates of contraceptive use (36 percent of women relied on
modern family planning methods in 2006) and the difficulties in obtaining
access to artificial methods of contraception, which contribute to the high
rates of teenage pregnancies and maternal deaths. Third, to forestall maternal
deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth. As indicated by the 2008 United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population report on the
Philippines, at any rate 230 Filipino moms die for each 100,000 live births,
contrasted with just 11 in US (with present day strategy preventative
predominance pace of 68%), seven in Canada, four in Spain (with current
technique prophylactic pervasiveness pace of 62%), three in Italy, six in
Japan, 14 in South Korea, 14 in Singapore (with present day strategy
preventative commonness pace of 53%). Across Europe, except for Albania, Romania,
and Estonia, the maternal mortality proportion is beneath 15. Day by day, there
are 11 women dying while conceiving an offspring in the Philippines. Not a
solitary demise ought to occur because of pregnancy and labor. These
preventable deaths could have been maintained a strategic distance from if
increasingly Filipino ladies have approached conceptive wellbeing information
and medicinal services. As indicated by the 2008 NDHS, just 44% of births
happen in health facilities and just 62% of births are helped by a healthcare
professional. 10 Maternal deaths identified with labor can be decreased further
by giving access to skilled birth attendants which would be addressed by a
comprehensive reproductive health care policy. Fourth, to forestall newborn child
mortality. Adequate birth spacing is significant for the strength of the woman
and the children. Birth spacing at least four years can increase the survival
rate of children less than five years of age. In addition, the under-five
mortality rate 11 for children born less than two years after a previous birth
is 54 deaths per 1,000 live births, compared with 25 deaths per 1,000 for
children born after an interval of four or more years. Fifth, to lend help to
individuals and couples choose freely and responsibly when to have children.
Knowing which medicinally safe and compelling techniques for contraception to
be utilized, will support people and couples to decide unreservedly and
dependably the number, phase, space of their children. This in turn ought to guarantee
that all kids are needed and adored and will be appropriately accommodated by
their parents. The Constitution expresses that it will "protect the
privilege of life partners to frame a family as per their strict feelings and
the requests of mindful parenthood" (Art. 15, Sec. 14). Each individual
must be allowed to settle on sexual and contraceptive choices as indicated by
her or his own soul and strict convictions liberated from obstruction,
intimidation or imperative. The CRC Committee expresses worry "at the
absence of successful measures to advance the regenerative privileges of ladies
and young ladies and that specific convictions and strict qualities are
forestalling their satisfaction. As indicated by our commitments under the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), which the Philippines approved on August 3, 1981, the Philippines
ought to guarantee women "similar rights to choose freely and capably on
the number and space of their kids and to approach the information, planning
and intends to empower them to practice these rights. Sixth, to reduce
premature birth rates. Expanded access to data and services on present day
preventative techniques will decrease the quantity of undesirable pregnancies,
dispose of the requirement for premature birth, and forestall maternal death.
It is lamentable however that the proposed law that could decrease the quantity
of premature births is being restricted by fundamentalist groups. In the
Philippines, there are a half a million women who instigate premature birth
techniques consistently, 79,000 ladies who are admitted to clinics for
difficulties-from-dangerous-fetus-removal and there are 800 women dying from
risky abortion. One-third of unintended pregnancies end in abortion and twelve
percent of maternal deaths are because of perilous fetus removal. The most
recent Philippine measurements on abortion likewise show the accompanying
profile of women who prompt premature birth: nine of every ten ladies are
hitched or in a consensual association; the greater part have in any event
three kids; 66% are poor; about 90% are Catholic. The Philippine lawful
limitation on fetus removal, one of the remnants of Spanish colonization in the
Philippines, was lifted legitimately from the old Spanish Penal Code of 1870.
Perceiving the high paces of women’s deaths experiencing stealthy and dangerous
premature birth methodology because of its wrongdoing, the Spanish government
reexamined its prohibitive law and has permitted abortion on specific grounds
in 1985, more than 25 years now. Last February 24, 2010, Spain endorsed another
law on fetus removal that further facilitates limitations by permitting the
method without limitations as long as 14 weeks and gives 16-and 17-year old’s
the option to have abortion without parental assent. The law is the most recent
of a progression of strong social changes embraced by Socialist Prime Minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who originally got down to business in 2004.
Spain has additionally legitimized gay marriage and made it simpler for
Spaniards to separate under Zapatero's organization. Spain has changed its laws
to permit abortion on expansive grounds, but we are left to battle with our old
frontier laws. Other dominatingly Catholic nations that permit abortion are
Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, and Hungary (whose constitution shields life
from origination yet allows fetus removal if 12 weeks of incubation). Ongoing
abortion advancements happened in Colombia, Mexico City (sanctioned premature birth
in the main trimester without limitation in April 2007) and Portugal (permits
premature birth if 10 weeks of pregnancy). Perceiving that the criminalization
of aborting doesn't diminish the quantity of women initiating fetus removal
however just makes it perilous for women who experience secret and risky fetus
removal, in 2006, the CEDAW Committee encouraged the Philippine government to
"consider assessing the laws identifying with premature birth with the end
goal of evacuating reformatory arrangements forced on ladies who experience
premature birth and give them access to quality services for the administration
of inconveniences emerging from dangerous premature births and to lessen
ladies' maternal death rates in accordance with the Committee's general
suggestion 24 on ladies and wellbeing and the Beijing Platform for Action. The
Philippine law on abortion doesn't permit special cases dependent on assault,
dangers to the life and soundness of the lady and fetal disability. Philippine
law on abortion must be changed to permit it on request. This change can occur
through a law expelling the punishments for the lady prompting abortion and the
safe abortion providers helping her. Making abortion safe and legal will spare
the lives of around 800 Filipino women speaking to the quantity of women who
die each year from risky fetus removal. The authorization of fetus removal
doesn't expand the quantity of ladies prompting premature birth rather it has
prompted an abatement in the number of ladies decreasing from hazardous
premature birth. Where premature birth is legitimate, as in Canada and Turkey,
fetus removal rates didn't increase while the Netherlands, with its liberal
premature birth law and generally available contraceptives and free fetus
removal administrations, has one of the most reduced premature birth rates on
the planet. Deaths due to fetus removal fell 85 percent after legitimization in
the US. Seventh, to give rape victims a better chance to heal from their
ordeal. Giving rape victims access to emergency contraception (EC) like
levonorgestrel can assist them to prevent unwanted pregnancies. The
availability of Postinor, a brand name for levonorgestrel, has been the most
vulnerable to religious fundamentalist attack. Then Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez,
Jr. wrote a Position Paper in 1999 giving permission to its dispensation to
rape victims through the hospital-based DOH network of Women and Children
Protection Units (WCPU). Subsequently, however, Postinor was delisted by the
Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) and, despite requests for its re-registration,
it has not been allowed to be registered again by the BFAD. The World Health
Organization (WHO) characterizes EC as a technique for forestalling pregnancy.
As indicated by WHO, EC doesn't intrude on pregnancy, in this manner, it isn't
viewed as a strategy for abortion. More than 140 nations worldwide have
enrolled EC pills, for example, Postinor and so forth including 31
transcendently Catholic nations, for example, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia,
Brazil, Burundi, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France,
Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Uruguay, and Venezuela, Almost the entirety of the ten ASEAN nations including
Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam have enlisted levonorgestrel. Eighth, to forestall early pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases among youths. The Comprehensive Reproductive
Health Care Bill (RH bill) prescribes that the administration gives required
mandatory reproductive health education starting at Grade 5. As per our
commitments under CEDAW, "high school pregnancies present a huge obstruction
to girls’ educational opportunities and economic empowerment”. It is the
administration's obligation to "concentrate on the circumstance of youths
and that it gives sex education, directed at young ladies and young men, with
uncommon regard for the avoidance of early pregnancies and sexually transmitted
diseases. In addition, the CRC Committee suggested the pressing reception of
the RH Bill to "guarantee access to reproductive health counselling and
furnish all young people with accurate and objective information and culturally
sensitive services so as to forestall high school pregnancies, including by
giving wide access to an expansive assortment of contraceptives with no
limitations and improving information and soul on family planning," and to
"reinforce formal and casual sex instruction, for young ladies and young
men, concentrating on the avoidance of early pregnancies, STIs and family
planning," in addition to other things. Many adolescents are active
sexually and do not practice any preventative strategy. In 2008, there were 47
births for each 1000 women aged 15-19. 28 According to the Young Adult
Fertility and Sexuality Study 3 (YAFS 3), by age 18, 10 % of young ladies would
have been pregnant and by age 20, 25% would have just been pregnant. Twenty-six
percent of ladies aged 15-24 have just started child-bearing. In addition, the
knowledge of many adolescents on reproductive tract infections (RTIs), sexually
transmitted infections (STIs), and HIV/AIDS is at a shallow level. Young people
should know the dangers of early sex, for example, the distinctive RTIs and the
chance of gaining STIs and HIV/AIDS through unprotected and unsafe sex. Dangers
of transmission during personal sexual contact incorporate diseases to the
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which causes most cervical malignancies. At their
young age, youths are inclined to HIV contaminations to HPV. Addition to this,
pregnancies of juvenile young ladies aged 18 years and beneath are viewed as
high risk pregnancies. Complications because of high blood and maternal
mortality are high for juvenile young ladies conceiving an offspring. They
likewise neglect essential pre-natal and post-natal consideration consequently
putting themselves in danger and adding to the event of newborn child
mortality. The social effect of early labor for adolescent girls incorporates
interruption of schooling and the subsequent resulting lack of career options
because of low educational fulfillment and lack of necessary job skills. Thus,
lack of career avenues will yield a lack of financial capability. Philippine
law as of now expects schools to teach HIV and AIDS under the 1998 Philippine
AIDS Prevention Act (RA 8504). The statutes in the regions of Aurora, Ifugao,
Mt. Sultan Kudarat, Sulu and Olongapo City all require adolescent reproductive
health (ARH) training in schools. These laws show the need to maintain ARH
instruction. Ninth, To give emphasis and to address the rising HIV/AIDS cases.
The HIV pestilence in the Philippines is consistently developing. Toward the
beginning of 2010, there are as of now four new cases being accounted for
consistently contrasted with the two new cases announced month to month in
2009. As per the appraisals of Dr. Enrique Tayag, Director of the National
Epidemiology Center (NEC), there will be an extra 1,500 Filipinos recently
tainted by HIV by December 2010 and around 4,000 - 7,000 by 2011. The total
instances of HIV proliferation from Jan. 1984-Aug. 2009 is 4,082.40 The annual
reported HIV cases rose from 200 of every 2004 to 528 of every 2008 and the
number about significantly increased in 15-multi year-olds from 41 out of 2007
to 110 out of 2008. As early as 2007, an ever-increasing number of young people
were being contaminated with HIV, therefore, it is critical to reach the
general youth population. 42 HIV infected guys in the age groups of 20-24 and
25-29 posted an expanding share (4 percent and 6 percent, individually) for the
period 2006-2009, while reducing extents are accounted for by more older age
groups. A developing number of ladies are getting HIV at 28%. Of the 821 AIDS
cases revealed in 2009, the greater part of sexual transmissions was through
hetero contact (30% were ladies and 70% were men). A disturbing 35% of OFWs
with HIV are sailors with a comparable increment in the quantity of spouses of
sailors tainted with HIV. Condoms and educational campaigns discussing the
methods of HIV transmission, unsafe sexual conduct, and anticipation and
treatment of HIV are approaches to address the rising incidence of HIV/AIDS in
the nation. Access to life-saving supplies including condoms, Post Exposure
Prophylaxis (PEP) and hostile to retro-vials and access to data with respect to
HIV avoidance and treatment will be made accessible through a thorough RH law.
Tenth, to avoid the negative impact of large families on poor families for some
poor families, an enormous family size results in poverty and lack of access to
education, and quality services, among others. There are likewise studies
indicating that the oldest or second oldest from poor, huge families end up in
prostitution to address their families' issues and numerous ladies from huge
families additionally wind up being dealt, and lastly, eleventh, to liberate
ladies’ bodies from being held prisoner by legislative issues and fundamentalism.
Groups, for example, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)
have ceaselessly contradicted the entry of the RH bill into law. It even
distinguished in its rules for the 2010 decisions that voters should not vote
for the candidates who supported the RH bill. The above findings on the
negative impact of the non-passage of the RH bill and the limitation of access
to current contraceptives show that a position that is against the section of
the RH bill isn't receptive to the requirements of the Filipinos—Catholics
included. Such a position on the RH bill is hindering women’s contraceptive
rights and to the lives and prosperity of Filipinos particularly poor people.
Truth be told, the aftereffects of the 2010 political decision demonstrate that
numerous Catholic-upheld up-and-comers didn't win in the elections. Previously,
the soft stance of some congressional representatives and those in the
executive branch of the government was their method for not irritating the CBCP
into crusading against them, be that as it may, the CBCP ought not be
associated with politicking since our very constitution ensures the partition
of chapel and state and the guideline of non-foundation of religion. The
assurance of the partition of chapel and state is given under Section 6, Art.
II on Declaration of Principles and State Policies of the Philippine
Constitution which expresses that "[t]he division of [c]hurch and [s]tate
will be sacred." The explanation behind the guideline of detachment of chapel
and state is to prepare for the perspectives on a predominant church from
impacting the lead of government and affecting arrangements to consider a
particular prevailing church. The detachment of chapel and state ensures that
one won't misuse the other or that one predominant religion or conviction won't
be utilized to administer the state and its kin. It should in like manner be
noticed that while the 1987 Constitution ensures opportunity of religion, it
additionally ensures the non-foundation of religion. Area 5, Article III of the
Bill of Rights expresses: "No law will be made regarding a foundation of
religion...." This statement was remembered for a request to guarantee
that the administration may not constrain anybody to help or partake in
religion. The January 2010 SWS survey however would make the congressional
agents and those in the executive branch genuinely consider their actual
position on the RH bill since the outcomes show that 38% of Filipinos pick to
decide in favor of applicants who bolster the RH bill while a small 6% select
to decide in favor of the individuals who restrict it. Thirty-five percent
didn't have the foggiest idea what the RH bill was about. Given the pattern on
the review, it would imply that more Filipinos who think about the RH bill
would decide in favor of a competitor who plainly bolsters the RH bill.
Strategically, it is well known for congressional delegates and those in
official situations to help the RH bill. The 2008 NDHS additionally refers to
health concerns and dread of symptoms as the two premier reasons why women do
not utilize contraceptives while just three percent do not utilize
contraceptives in light of strict conviction. Our representatives in government
must understand that our own Constitution expresses that, "Sovereignty
dwells in the individuals and all government authority radiates from
them." Government authorities must be reminded that they are mere
delegates of the Filipino individuals and that their commitment is to the
Filipino individuals and not to the Catholic Church and its priests who are
against the entry of the RH bill into law. Government authorities must regard
the majority in our general public. They should maintain access to reproductive
health information and social insurance administrations and give essential
significance to an individual's entitlement to conceptive self-assurance.
Fundamentalist public authorities who limit access to information and health
care services do not deserve any place in governance. In addition, consistent
with their roles as public officials, numerous public entities have enacted
reproductive health ordinances for example, in Luzon (the areas of Aurora,
Ifugao, Mt. Territory; urban communities, for example, Quezon City, Antipolo
City, Olongapo City; the regions of Tinoc, Sagada, Lagawe, Asipulo, Bontoc, and
Paracelis), in Visayas (the regions of Talibon, Ubay and Carmen of Bohol area,
and the districts of Llorente and Maydolong of Eastern Samar) and in Mindanao
(the regions of Sulu and Lanao Del Sur, General Santos City, and the regions of
Lebak and Kapatagan). Government authorities should abide the lead of local
government officials, for example, Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo of Aurora
and Governor Glenn Prudenciano of Ifugao who have initiated the order of statutes,
for example, "The Aurora Reproductive Health Care Code of 2005"
(Provincial Ordinance No. 125 (2005)) supporting expanded reproductive health
care services, including mandatory sexuality education, responsible and capable
parenthood and "Conceptive Health and Responsible Parenthood Ordinance of
Ifugao" (Ordinance 2006-33), separately. In spite of the CBCP's battle
against elective authorities who advocate for conceptive rights particularly
the individuals who bolster the reproductive health bill, numerous government
officials won in past races, for example, Nereus Acosta, Bellaflor
Angara-Castillo, Darlene Antonino-Custodio, Rodolfo Biazon, Juan Flavier,
Janette Garin, Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Edcel Lagman, Liza Largoza-Maza,
Renato Magtubo, Satur Ocampo, Nerissa Corazon Soon Ruiz, and Lorenzo R. Tañada
III. Hence, congressional delegates and those in executive positions should
make a clear stand on not just respecting the rights of individuals and couples
to informed choice. They should obviously make a position that they will
reserve assets to give wide access to current contraceptives and regenerative
medical services. It is extremely simple for white collar class and high
society women to pay for their own contraceptives and other conceptive human services
benefits, yet this isn't the situation for poor ladies in the networks, rustic
zones, and in the ARMM. For poor ladies, they can't purchase contraceptives,
they can't stand to pay for anti-toxins to treat their regenerative tract
contamination for them to have the option to have an IUD embedded, they can't
bear to pay for a P2,500 ligation technique in any event, when they as of now
have at least four children, they cannot get pre-natal and post-natal check-ups
on the grounds that they need to watch out for the necessities of their few
kids at home nor they can pay for a straightforward PAP smear strategy. We need
the essential budgetary distribution to build access to contraceptive social
insurance information and services.
Maximizing
the law’s utilization
The World Health Organization prescribes
these points to the Philippines in terms of an enhanced approach to the
country’s own Reproductive Health law. These points are directly lifted from
WHO’s statement. For “non-discrimination in provision of contraceptive
information and services”, the WHO recommends that “access to comprehensive
contraceptive information and services be provided equally to everyone
voluntarily, free of discrimination, coercion or violence (based on individual
choice), and also recommends that laws and policies support programs to ensure
that comprehensive contraceptive information and services are provided to all
segments of the population.” “Special attention should be given and
disadvantaged and marginalized populations in their access to these services.”
For “availability of contraceptive information and services” the WHO recommends
“integration of contraceptive commodities, supplies, and equipment, covering a
range of methods, including emergency contraception, within the essential
medicine supply chain to increase availability.” As well, “to invest in strengthening
the supply chain where necessary in order to help ensure availability.” For
“accessibility of contraceptive information and services”, the WHO suggests the
following, they “recommend the provision of scientifically accurate and
comprehensive sexuality education programs within and outside of schools that
include information on contraceptive use and acquisition.” Second, they
“recommend eliminating financial barriers to contraceptive use by marginalized
populations including adolescents and the poor and make contraceptives
affordable to all.” Third, they “recommend interventions to improve access to
comprehensive contraceptive information and services for users and potential
users with difficulties in accessing services (e.g. rural residents, urban
poor, adolescents).”, “Safe abortion information and services should be
provided according to existing WHO guidelines.” Fourth, they recommend “special
efforts be made to provide comprehensive contraceptive information and services
to displaced populations, those in crisis settings, and survivors of sexual
violence, who particularly need access to emergency contraception.” Fifth, they
“recommend that contraceptive information and services, as a part of sexual and
reproductive health services, be offered within HIV testing, treatment and care
provided in the health-care setting.” Sixth, WHO endorses that “comprehensive
contraceptive information and services be provided during antenatal and
postpartum care.” Seventh, they “suggest that comprehensive contraceptive
information and services be routinely integrated with abortion and
post-abortion care.” Eighth, they propose “that mobile outreach services be
used to improve access to contraceptive information and services for
populations who face geographical barriers to access.” Ninth, they endorse
“elimination of third-party authorization requirements, including spousal
authorization for individuals/women accessing contraceptive and related
information and services.” Tenth, they “recommend provision of sexual and reproductive
health services, including contraceptive information and services, for
adolescents without mandatory parental and guardian authorization/notification,
in order to meet the educational and service needs of adolescents.” For
“Acceptability of contraceptive information and services” WHO recommends
“gender-sensitive counselling and educational interventions on family planning
and contraceptives that are based on accurate information, that include skills
building (i.e. communications and negotiations), and that are tailored to meet
communities’ and individuals’ specific needs.” They also propose that
“follow-up services for management of contraceptive side-effects be prioritized
as an essential component of all contraceptive service delivery; recommend that
appropriate referrals for methods not available on site be offered and
available.” For “quality of contraceptive information and services”, first, WHO
recommends that “quality assurance processes, including medical standards of
care and client feedback, be incorporated routinely into contraceptive
programs.” Second, propose that “provision of long-acting reversible
contraception (LARC) methods should include insertion and removal services, and
counselling on side-effects, in the same locality.” Third, they recommend
“ongoing competency-based training and supervision of health-care personnel on
the delivery of contraceptive education, information and services.
Competency-based training should be provided according to existing WHO
guidelines.” For “informed decision-making”, WHO recommends the “offer of
evidence-based, comprehensive contraceptive information, education, and
counselling to ensure informed choice,” then, they recommend “every individual
is ensured the opportunity to make an informed choice for their own use of
modern contraception (including a range of emergency, short-acting,
long-acting, and permanent methods) without discrimination.” For “privacy and
confidentiality”. WHO proposes that “privacy of individuals should be respected
throughout the provision of contraceptive information and services, including
confidentiality of medical and other personal information.” For “participation”
WHO recommends that “communities, particularly people directly affected, have
the opportunity to be meaningfully engaged in all aspects of contraceptive
program and policy design, implementation and monitoring.” Lastly, for
“accountability”, WHO proposes that “effective accountability mechanisms are in
place and are accessible in the delivery of contraceptive information and
services, including monitoring and evaluation, and remedies and redress, at the
individual and systems levels”, and they also “propose that evaluation and
monitoring of all programs should ensure the highest quality of services and
respect for human rights must occur.”
Importance
It is factual that the Reproductive
Health law does not straightforwardly lift poverty or lend us safety blankets
from killings, wars, and the list for violence transcends. However, it still
brings us one step closer to a healthier and smarter Philippines. With the
heightened and intensified approach to the Article 10354 or also known as the
Reproductive Health Law, women, children, the masses in general, would bridge
the gap towards universal and inclusive access to methods on contraception,
fertility control, sexual education, and maternal care. Imagine the Philippines
having adolescents, and women do not need any more to hurdle innumerable
political, social, legal, and real barriers from allowing access to sexual and
reproductive (SRH services), information, and options. In addition, gone would
be the days when they frequently put their well-beings at higher risks of
unplanned pregnancy, abortion, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV, and
other health and development problems. The enhanced approach towards the RH Law
would respond to the clamor of the Philippine population who wanted the
Reproductive Health Care Law passed without lawful exclusions, these, to
respond in minimizing the chances of having unintended pregnancies, to address
in preventing maternal deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth, to react in
preventing infant mortality, to answer the call in lending helps to individuals
and couples choose freely and responsibly when to have children, to respond to
the call to reduce abortion rates, to respond to the giving of rape victims
better chances to heal from their ordeal, to respond to the calling of
prevention of early pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among
adolescents, and the Filipino masses, to give responses in addressing the
increasing HIV/AIDS cases, to respond in avoiding the negative impact of large
families on poor families, and lastly, to respond to the calling to free
women’s bodies from being held hostage by politics and fundamentalism. The RH
law is unequivocally disheartened by the Catholic church; thus, we should not
be handily persuaded by misinformation, or be held back by patriarchal or
church-related beliefs. As responsible
citizens, we must look profoundly and with absolute understanding the current
societal issues and assess how they influence us individually and as a whole
nation. We may see that the realities today encapsulate and encompass our
traditional beliefs; however, we must be responsive to the call of times. Along
this, we must confront our current issues with modern, and possibly more
effective solutions, solutions without inclined discrimination and fear. To
have a better Philippines, reproductive health options must be one of the
priorities.
To think critically is to save one's life.
Be part of the discussion.
Asulats.
