Independent – Albay

02 August 2012

0916-6406737 / 0918-9120137

The withdrawal of some minority members as co-authors of the RH bill is a mere partisan support for former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s opposition to the controversial measure.

Many of those who withdrew as co-authors are long-standing RH advocates like Rep. Danilo Suarez who has been a consistent and vocal co-author for three Congresses dating back to the 13^th Congress.

Arroyo has not articulated her specific objections to the RH bill except for a claim that it is against her Catholic faith, and neither has she pointed out what particular provisions of the bill is she against.

The much-ballyhooed withdrawal is not crucial to the final outcome which the RH advocates will win.

Arroyo’s rejection of the RH bill is a departure from her admission that she used contraceptive pills when she was a young mother, presumably to limit the number of her children and for birth spacing. She made this candid admission in March 2003 at a luncheon with pro-family planning legislators in Malacanang.

The former President’s opposition to the RH bill amounts to depriving Filipino women of the same right she herself enjoyed and the choice of availing themselves of non-abortive contraceptives.

If a woman of means has the right to contracept, why should she deny other women, particularly in the marginalized sectors, from using contraceptives to meet their fertility goals and desired family size.

Virtually all women in the topmost quintile of Philippine society have the number of children they want to have, which is two, as documented by the latest 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS)

In the poorest quintile, women are still having an average of almost six children which is equivalent to the total fertility rate in the country some 40 years ago and almost twice their fertility goal according to the same National Demographic and Health Survey of 2008.

The RH bill remedies this glaring disparity by mandating the government to extend RH information, services and supplies to poor women who are acceptors of voluntary family planning.

Among the poorest 10% of women of reproductive age, a whopping 44% of pregnancies are unwanted [2006 Family Planning Survey conducted by the Department of Health (DOH)].

The bottom line is, if women are given the chance to make responsible family planning decisions, they almost always decide to have smaller families and their children will invariably be healthier, better educated and have at least a fighting chance of living full and dignified lives.

Without this ability, most women will often find it more difficult – some may find it impossible – to finish their education, find remunerative work or have a say in their future.

This is the ability and the future which the former President is denying her fellow Filipinas, particularly the poorest of the poor who undergo serial pregnancies.