Download After 13 years of trying, Philippines law makers have finally passed the Reproductive Health Bill.
The Philippines has the highest birth rate in South East Asia.
With a population of more than 95 million, supporters of the bill say it will help address levels of poverty and mortality in the country.
The bill has had the strong backing of President Benigno Aquino, but the Church says the law could corrupt moral values.
Madonna Virola reports.
It’s a historic vote for the Philippines ... the Reproductive Health Bill has been passed.
The bill calls for government-funded contraception and sex education classes in the Philippines, a first in the devoutly Catholic nation.
It was the fourth attempt to pass the bill – the last three attempts were blocked by the Church and its political allies.
Congressman Edzel Lagman is the key proponent of the bill in the lower house.
”This is a long awaited measure. It would address the many problems in the country more particularly on women’s health and infant’s health, on reproductive rights as well as sustainable human development. A central proposition in the measure is freedom of informed choice where women and couples can freely and responsibly decide on the number and spacing of their children.”
But in a coastal slum on Mindoro Island, widower 55-year-old Alejandra Florendo, was unaware that the bill had been passed.
She doesn’t have a job and she relies on what her children can provide for her.
She got married at the age of 17 and since then she has been busy raising 10 children.
”I bore 12 children but two died. They got sick during their childhood. I couldn’t stop getting pregnant ... almost every 2 years. Except for the last child, I gave birth to them all at home. We were poor, my husband was a small time fisherman. If he had no income, I would find ways ... like selling things in the neighbourhood. There were times that we had to skip meals. I tried taking pills for only two years but I was afraid I was getting sick and skinny because of it. When my children were all small, we had a very difficult life.”
According to the United Nations, nearly 70 percent of Filipino women don’t use birth control – 3.4 million of them are pregnant each year.
Many of them are girls between 15 and 19 years old.
And the country is struggling with a rising maternal mortality rate – the United Nations says 11 mothers die every day due to maternity-related complications.
The UN has long urged the Philippines to pass the bill which will allow the government to provide free contraceptives. It is believed that this will significantly reduce the maternal mortality rate.
But the Catholic Church has taken a hard line against the bill – equating contraception with abortion, which is illegal in the Philippines.
Filipino Catholic church leaders have vowed to overturn the bill.
They will continue the fight with an appeal to the Supreme Court and a campaign to oust the bills’ supporters in next year’s general election.
Father Melvin Castro is from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
He believes that there’s a hidden agenda in the bill that goes against the moral teachings of the Church.
“If they are really after lowering the maternal death, if they are really intent on lowering down the infant mortality, then let us call that bill as bill promoting maternal health, infant health. But why they could not drop the word reproductive health? The women groups here, you can check it in their website, they are not only advocating for contraceptives use and access to contraceptives, they are advocating legal and safe abortion.”
The President is expected to sign the bill before the end of the year.
Back in the slum on Mindoro Island, Alejandra feels sorry for her daughters because they weren’t able to finish school and had to marry at a very young age.
”My daughter was only 16 years old when she got married, even younger than I was. She has 8 children and didn’t want to follow my advice about family planning. She was afraid that contraceptives would have a bad impact on her health. I hope that my children will only have about 3 children, that would be enough.”
