Gabriela-Sponsored RH Bill to Provide Comprehensive Health Services to Women

Gabriela-Sponsored RH Bill to Provide Comprehensive Health Services to Women

Published on October 9, 2010

“To reduce this measure to a debate that focuses only on artificial versus natural methods of contraception is a myopic approach to the issue.” – Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan

By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

Sidebar: Dissecting The Comprehensive Reproductive Health Act 

MANILA – Ofelia Lubat, 45, has nine children. Her youngest son Marvin who turned one last September looks malnourished. Em-em, her eighth child is naked and was as small as a three year-old child. Only four out of her nine children are going to school because they cannot afford the expenses. Her eldest son Micheal, 20, only finished grade 5. He is presently unemployed.

And because of the death of her son, Marlon, 17, due to leptospirosis last January, they are paying a loan amounting to P200,000 ($4,545) to her husband’s employer. “His salary is P9,000 ($204), but because we’re paying a debt, he’s only taking home from P1,500 ($34) to P1,000 ($22),”Ofelia said. She has a variety store but what she earns from it is not enough to feed 10 mouths including the couple. “We earn at least P200 a day ($4.5) from the store. That’s for my children’s needs. For our food, we have dried fish, vegetable with fish sauce or just anything.”

Ofelia with son Marvin (Photo by Anne Marxze D. Umil / bulatlat.com)

Ofelia is only one of the many Filipino women who suffer the burden of having many mouths to feed with their meager income. Like other poor mothers, Ofelia also wants the Reproductive Health (RH) bill to be passed in Congress not only to prevent her from getting pregnant but also to avail of health care services that she has not been able to avail of in her nine previous pregnancies.

Amid the heated debate between the Catholic church and supporters of RH bill, Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) Rep. Luz Ilagan said the reproductive health bill they filed in Congress includes more than giving a choice between the different methods of fertility planning and contraception. It is, she said, beyond the issue of population control.

“To reduce this measure to a debate that focuses only on artificial versus natural methods of contraception is a myopic approach to the issue,” Ilagan said.

A Health Issue for Both Mother and Baby

“The poor women, adolescent women, rural and indigenous women are the ones most affected by the lack in a reproductive health care policy. They are the ones who have the most unintended and closely-spaced pregnancies. Their birth deliveries are commonly unattended by trained health professionals,” said lawyer Clara Rita Padilla, executive director of Engenderights, Inc. said..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/10/09/gabriela-sponsored-rh-bill-to-provide-comprehensive-health-services-for-women/