Reproductive Health

MANILA, Philippines – Reproductive Health bill advocates yesterday expressed strong opposition to a proposal by a New York-based human rights group to legalize abortion in the Philippines to prevent desperate pregnant women from undergoing unsafe abortions.

THE CRIMINAL was a woman. They are always women. On paper, the sentence is imprisonment, up to six years. In the dank back rooms of Manila slums, and in the emergency wards of public hospitals, the sentence can be death. In 2008, at least 500,000 women resorted to abortion. Ninety thousand suffered complications. A thousand…

MANILA, Philippines – The controversial debate over abortion is heating up. But beyond the polarized views from moral, scientific and practical standpoints, the argument may just be taking flesh in the lives of women facing risks in the country’s abortion clinics.

PARIS—Women who conceive within six months after a miscarriage have a better chance of a healthy pregnancy without complications compared to women who wait longer, according to a study released Friday.

MANILA, Philippines – An official of the Department of Health (DOH) rejected yesterday the proposal of a New York-based human rights group that abortion should be decriminalize in the Philippines to prevent desperate pregnant women from undergoing “unsafe abortions.”

MANILA, Philippines – Many Filipinas are forced to patronize life-threatening methods to terminate pregnancies because abortion is a criminal offense in the Philippines, according to the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights.

MANILA, Philippines – Maricel, an 18-year-old mother, attempted to induce an abortion on fears of losing her employment opportunity in a foreign land.

A New York-based law firm, the Center for Reproductive Rights, has released a paper blaming the Philippines’ pro-life laws criminalizing abortion for endangering women. The group alleges that current laws force women to turn to illegal abortions that can result in complications and — in around 1000 cases annually — even death. The report basically…

Unsafe abortions in the Philippines will be reduced if the Congress passes a reproductive health bill that will promote modern family planning, several women’s rights advocates said at a forum Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – Organizations and legislators supporting the Reproductive Health (RH) bill have reportedly been courting neophyte congressmen to support the passage of the proposed law by bringing them to seminars in exclusive places in Central Luzon.

A LEADER of women and reproductive health rights advocate group on Monday urged the government to legalize abortion in certain instances when it is warranted.

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine government is to blame for creating a “dire human rights crisis” in the country by withholding access to family planning services and imposing a criminal ban on abortion, pro-choice activists said Monday.

Reproductive health and women’s rights advocates urged Congress Monday to pass a law allowing “safe and legal abortion,” citing a new report that described a “human rights crisis” of maternal deaths, injuries, and illnesses arising from unsafe abortions in the Philippines.

“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…

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European Union’s top diplomat to Manila has urged the Aquino administration to certify the immediate ratification of the reproductive health bill and to live up to its international pledge to promote maternal health under the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The petitioners of the controversial sex education program of the Department of Education (DepEd) withdrew their suit against its inclusion in the local education system to allow Education Secretary Armin Luistro evaluate the program and take appropriate actions.

When our friend and fellow reproductive health advocate, Carlos Celdran calls us to get together, you can bet that the usual suspects are all going to show up, ready to spend another evening of ranting and whining about the issues that Reproductive Health (RH) advocates obsess about: SexEd bill, the stand of president on RH…

PETITIONERS yesterday withdrew their case against the sex education curriculum in elementary and high school pending a review of the scheme by Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro.

(Part 1 of a series on Reproductive Health) The population has reached 90 million. Seventy percent are poor and barely productive. Only five years remain to attain the 2015 UN Millennium Development Goals. The UN Global Monitoring Report 2010 foresees our failure in two goals: providing quality primary education for all; and decreasing maternal and…

HEALTH Secretary Enrique Ona on Monday said his department would push for the passage of the reproductive health bill, setting the stage for a confrontation between the Aquino administration and the Catholic Church.

THERE is nothing wrong with an only child. Against the conventional wisdom that an only child can grow up “selfish, spoiled and lonely,” recent studies show that this is not so. As Time magazine put it in its latest report, “the economy is sluggish . . . Expenses are up. And raising kids costs a…

The new Health Department Secretary Enrique Ona obviously has so many other pressing matters needing attention of his department. Undoubtedly so many people are getting sick and are dying because of poor health services and inadequate facilities, not to mention the unavailability of basic medicines to prevent the spread of communicable diseases for a healthier…

MANILA, Philippines—In their first collective statement since the Aquino administration assumed office, leaders of the Catholic Church called on the President to drop government programs that promote artificial contraceptives as a means of family planning.

MANILA, Philippines – The new administration is boosting the country’s family planning program, with Health Secretary Enrique Ona saying yesterday he would propose the procurement of contraceptives using government funds.

Pregnant women lined up for free goodies during a commercial promo at a shopping mall yesterday as the Philippines marked World Population Day. Many of those women will need much more help in the course of their pregnancy until they give birth. And they will need continuing help as they try to raise their children…

NOW that President Benigno C. Aquino is settled in Malacañang the attention of his bosses (The People) is shifting to Congress. The Senate leadership remains a tight battle as this piece is being written. But the speakership of the House of Representatives is virtually conceded to Rep. Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, not only because former President…

MANILA, Philippines—Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin has filed another version of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill that includes mandated government care for those with HIV and AIDS, as well as those suffering from complications from abortion.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona admitted he was reluctant to accept the position because he was very happy with his life as a “clinician.”

MANILA, Philippines – Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman re-filed yesterday his controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill, which seeks a national family planning policy to make life better for Filipinos.