SANGGUNIAN STAND ON THE HOUSE BILL 4244 The Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila

calls for the swift passage of the proposed House Bill no. 4244, "An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Policy on Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health, and Population and Development, and for Other Purposes, or more commonly known as the Reproductive Health Bill. The Bill, by its nature, offers freedom of choice for its citizens, as it supports both natural and artificial family planning methods, making both more accessible without mandating that either one be used, and therefore leaving this choice up to each individual citizen. The Sanggunian asserts that the rights to freedom of choice and freedom of conscience are innate to every citizen of the country, and that these must be upheld inasmuch as they do not impinge upon the rights of others. Consequently, while the Catholic Church and other groups are well within their rights to appeal to their followers to adhere to their institutional positions regarding whether or not they avail of the choices offered by the Bill, they overstep when they seek to compromise their individual rights to discern and choose, and when they seek to take away those choices from the many non-Catholic Filipinos who would be affected by the Bill. We call on the state to recognize and uphold the rights of the multiplicity of religious affiliations present in the Philippines, and to use public funds to provide for the education and services that should be available to all, regardless of creed. The Bill likewise calls for mandatory age-appropriate reproductive health and sexuality education starting in Grade Five, which the Sanggunian asserts should not be seen as a hindrance to free choice, but rather as a step towards empowered and informed choice. Studies by the National Statistics Office (NSO) also show that the practice of family planning is influenced by the womans age and education, and the incidence of unmet family planning needs decreases with increasing educational attainment. 12 Thus, once again, the Sanggunian calls for the passage of the bill, for it highlights the need for an age-appropriate sex education. If an appropriate sex education were to be incorporated in elementary education, knowledge of family planning methods and options will be made more available to all.
1

National Statistics Office. Unmet Need for Family Planning Remains High. May 25, 2012. Web. http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2012/pr1238tx.html (accessed August 30, 2012). 2 National Statistics Office.Women in Poor Households Are Less Likely to Practice Family Planning. June 18, 2012. Web. http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2012/pr1245tx.html (accessed August 30, 2012).

In terms of its immediate health benefits, the Bill also provides a plan to improve reproductive health care facilities around the country as well as adequate training of our local healthcare personnel, especially at the Barangay level. It also allows for an easier access to essential medicines, as well as prioritization of monetary benefits for life-threatening reproductive health conditions through programs like PhilHealth. Alarming statistics from the 2011 Family Health Survey of the National Statistics Office (NSO) reveal that in that year alone, there were 221 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, most of these among women living in impoverished situations3. What is most disturbing about these deaths is that most were related to avoidable and preventable causes such as infection, obstructed labor, and many others. The Sanggunian believes that with the passage of such a bill, the government will be able to provide better access to maternal care, especially to those who need it the most, and in so doing alleviate part of the suffering brought about by conditions of poverty. More statistics show that the incidence of unmet needs for family planning remains high in the country and that one in three births in the country is unplanned or mistimed. 4 It is in light of these current realities that the Sanggunian is for the passage of the bill, for it allows couples and individuals to have the freedom of having an informed choice, more specifically in the different family planning options that they can choose from, to be able to plan well the size of their families and the spacing of their children. Amendments Although the Sanggunian is calling for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill, even in its current form, we also recognize that amendments have been proposed, and that these will be deliberated upon before the Bill is finally voted upon in Congress. We call attention in particular to the the following points in particular: 1) On Family Planning and Contraceptives Given that the provision on family planning gives access to both natural and artificial methods, it is important to ensure that the contraceptives to be made available in the country are not abortifacients which are drugs or devices that act to end pregnancy once it has begun at conception or the moment when the sperm of a male penetrates and fertilizes the ovum to form a viable
3

Alave, Kristine. Maternal Mortality Rate rose in 2011, says DOH. June 18, 2012. Web. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/214829/maternal-mortality-rate-rose-in-2011-says-doh (accessed September 3, 2012).
4

National Statistics Office. Unmet Need for Family Planning Remains High. May 25, 2012. Web. http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2012/pr1238tx.html (accessed August 30, 2012).

zygote5. As the bills states in Sec. 3 (i) that the act recognizes that abortion is illegal and punishable by law, it must ensure that any methods of family planning that will be provided by the government abide by the law against abortion. Systems and regulations should be placed in order to screen all natural and artificial methods so as to ensure that no abortifacients are included. 2) Age-Appropriate Sex Education The Sanggunian opposes all calls to increase the age at which mandatory sexuality and reproductive health education is to be implemented, and asserts that Grade Five is an appropriate age at which such can begin. Given the dropout rates among Filipino schoolchildren, we believe that information must be made available to them at the earliest prudent age in order to ensure that even those who do not complete later levels of education are still given the education being promoted by the Bill. That said, the Sanggunian supports the proposed amendment that would ensure that the values formation into which reproductive health education is integrated remain sensitive to religious context. Respect for students particular religious beliefs is entirely consistent with the Bills principle of freedom of choice, provided that the reproductive health education still be delivered objectively and competently, as the Bill already provides for. 3) Financing of the Basic Health Benefits The Sanggunian also sees significance in the promulgation of good governance in how funding will be disbursed and used for the various health care programs and benefits that the bill will be providing by Local Government Units (LGUs). Expenditures that may arise from the provision of the basic health benefits as stated in the bill should primarily be sourced from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and properly liquidated at the end of each year. Such spending on the new health benefits must go under stringent budgeting processes to ensure that the pertinent finances are properly allocated and judiciously monitored. The Sanggunians Action Plan

Pharm, John Wilks B. The Pill-How it Works and Fails . October 1998. http://www.pfli.org/faq_oc.html (accessed September 1, 2012).

The Sanggunian's call extends to Congress to go through the period of amendments as swiftly as possible, and as well as to the members of the Ateneo community to actively engage and be involved with the entire process. It is our hope that the bill will be enacted before the current session of Congress ends. We call on our executives for the proper implementation once enacted into law. The Sanggunian shall continue to provide the necessary information to its constituents on the progress of the bill to keep them in touch with this very important national issue. Furthermore, the Sanggunian will initiate discussions and dialogue among different members of the Ateneo community and its partners in order to remain an avenue where different ideas and views can be expressed freely and be allowed to thrive in pursuit of responsible citizenship and social justice. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam