‘Forsaken lives’

“MYLENE,” A 26-year-old doctor, became pregnant after she was raped by a politician who had sponsored her medical school scholarship. Because an induced abortion is a crime under Philippine law, she could not confide in anyone and felt constrained from seeking safe abortion services. Instead, she sought to perform an abortion on herself and, being aware of the risk of infection, had been self-medicating with antibiotics. By the time she sought the help of a friend and classmate, she was complaining of abdominal pain and her skin was cold to the touch. She was referred for a D&C (dilation and curettage), but the pain only increased afterwards. When doctors, suspecting a perforation because of the procedure, opened her up, they didn’t find any perforation but severe sepsis (infection) that had spread to her entire pelvic cavity. She died on the operating table.

Mylene’s story proves that the problem of accessing safe abortion services for Filipino women cuts across all classes and covers many situations. Of course, women from better-off backgrounds have many options, among them going abroad for an abortion in a country where the procedure is legal and safe, or contracting the services of a private physician who can perform an abortion in safe and sanitary conditions, in total privacy.

But the almost total ban on abortions, contained in the Penal Code of the 1935 Constitution which was itself based on the Spanish Penal Code dating back to the 1800s, has made abortion risky for both women and providers. And because it is illegal, it is unregulated and unsafe.

But as shown in the study “Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban” by the Center for Reproductive Rights, the illegality of abortion in this country has not eliminated the need for it, nor has it reduced its frequency.

Conservative estimates put the number of abortions performed in the Philippines every year at 560,000, with some 90,000 women facing complications from the procedure, and 1,000 of them (about three each day) dying. Post-abortion care is also one of the top causes of hospitalization in the country, with strong implications on public health expenditures.

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THE BAN on abortion is examined in “Forsaken Lives” through the lens of human rights instruments. It takes the Philippine government to task for “creating a dire human rights crisis” in the country, with no action taken to “tackle the issue or reform the policies that exacerbate it.”

The Philippines, the report says, is one of only a handful of countries that prohibit and criminally punish abortion without recognizing a clear legal exception “even if a woman’s pregnancy poses a risk to her life or health, if she is a victim of rape or incest, or in cases of fetal impairment.”

Panelists at Tuesday’s Bulong Pulungan at Sofitel—Dr. Florence Tadiar of the Institute of Social Studies and Action and Melissa Uppreti of the Center for Reproductive Rights—made clear that while there has yet been no trial or conviction of anyone for abortion here, the legal ban has created an “environment of judgment and stigma” that allows law enforcers to harass and entrap service providers and health personnel to scold, reprimand and even delay or refuse services and care to women they suspect of having undergone abortion. And yet, as some stories told in the report indicate, despite their harsh judgment on the women, very few doctors, nurses or midwives take the time to counsel them on ways to prevent another unwanted pregnancy from occurring.

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LISTEN to the stories of some women in “Forsaken Lives.”

“Cielo,” a teenager and rape survivor, went to a government hospital seeking treatment due to severe bleeding after taking an abortion-inducing drug and undergoing heavy massage. The male doctor attending her began to scold her in a loud voice saying what she did was a sin and what a waste because she was so young. “My abdomen was very painful and all the while they were scolding me,” she recalls. “I was crying because of my hurt feelings mixed with intense abdominal pain. It was really agonizing.”

“Lisa” recalls that while in the hospital for post-abortion care, “a nurse came to my bed and hung a sign saying ‘abortion’ at the foot of my bed.” There was a similar sign on the bed of every woman who had undergone a D&C, she remembers, and even strangers would approach her asking why she had undergone an abortion.

“Haydee” is in her 40s and suffering from chronic hypertension. Her first doctor told her that she could not get pregnant again because it could kill her. But she did not dare take contraceptive pills for fear of their effects on her health. On her third pregnancy, she approached a doctor and explained her situation. But the doctor said “it is against their profession because it is the taking of life. She would never prescribe a drug to induce an abortion. I told her I had this condition; I had a reason. She firmly said she would not give a drug because she would (be) committing a sin.”

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SELF-RIGHTEOUS and judgmental doctors are, of course, only part of the bigger cast of characters that have allowed abortion to flourish in the country albeit in a clandestine manner fraught with risk for the women and service-providers.

But their behavior and attitude are only emblematic of the practice of our so-called social and moral betters feeling free to substitute their own personal morality for the feelings, needs and conscience of women driven to desperation.

This applies as well to officials and legislators turning a blind eye to the human rights violations that occur every day, violations of the fundamental rights of women seeking equal protection under a harsh and unforgiving legal system. –Rina Jimenez-David, Philippine Daily Inquirer