Population: women's rights issue

(published Phil. Daily Inquirer, Aug 11, 2004)

I AM concerned about how House Bill No. 16 has made population its central issue. The bill seeksto provide information and services onreproductive health care to arrest the growthrate of our population, not to allow women toexercise the right to choose whether and when tohave children. Its preferential incentive onscholarships for children of families with twochildren discriminates against poor childrenbelonging to larger families.

The bill mistakenly presumes that all kinds ofabortions are hazardous. Clandestine abortion isunsafe and dangerous, but safe and legal abortionis not. An abortion performed under properconditions is even safer than childbirth.

The bill also makes it a point to maintain theillegality of abortion under the Revised PenalCode. It fails to recognize that the illegalityof abortion does not lessen the incidence ofabortion but only makes it dangerous for women.It also fails to recognize that, having ratifiedthe Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women, the Philippines isbound to remove punitive provisions imposed onwomen who undergo abortion.

Dangerous pronouncements have also been made,such as the statement of Rep. Ace Barbers to denyfree health care services to women who have morethan two children to discourage multiple births.This places poor women's health and lives atrisk. A clear illustration of how widely accessible health care services save lives is thefact that, in the United States, only eight womendie out of every 100,000 live births while, inthe Philippines, 240 women die out of every 100,000 live births.

On the other hand, the Catholic Churchhierarchy's stand against modern contraceptivemethods is not new at all. The Church can say allit wants but the duty of the government is toprovide access to information and services on thefull range of contraceptive methods regardless ofwhat the Catholic Church hierarchy professes.

Catholic women around the world--including morethan 60 percent of Catholic women in Trinidad,Tobago and Botswana, and 28 percent in thePhilippines--have used contraceptive methods,showing that Catholic women exercise freedom ofconscience. What we need is a reproductive healthcare policy that assures access to informationand services for all women regardless of theirreligion and the number of their children.--ClaraRita A. Padilla,