PRESS RELEASE
16 October 2008

SWS: 71% OF PINOYS SUPPORT
THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL

The results of the Social Weather Stations’ (SWS) non-commissioned survey on the Reproductive Health bill reveal the overwhelming support of Filipinos for the passage of House Bill 5043 principally authored by Albay Representative Edcel Lagman.

Seventy-one percent of Filipinos endorse the enactment of a bill protecting and promoting the right to reproductive health, including information and access to all methods of family planning, and 76% favor the teaching of family planning to the youth.

The huge support for the passage of the Reproductive Health bill and the inclusion family planning in the school curriculum cuts across not only regions, social class and gender but also religion.

The survey shows that there is in fact a higher percentage of Catholics who support the enactment of the Reproductive Health bill (71%) than non-Catholics (68%).

Moreover, Lagman said that the data culled by the SWS reveal that “73% of Catholics who go to church at least once a week is in favor of the bill compared to the 67% of supportive non-Catholics who attend religious services weekly.”

“The results of the SWS survey clearly show that religion is not a factor in family planning decisions of Filipino couples,” Lagman underscored.

He added that, “vox populi, vox Dei – the voice of the people is the voice of God – and there can be no better truism than this when it comes to the RH bill.”

“The Filipino people have spoken and this should embolden lawmakers to deliver safely the RH bill, not abort it for the nth time,” Lagman said.