Nothing has given me and other RH advocates more hope than President Digong Duterte’s statement during his State of the Nation Address that his administration will fully implement the Reproductive Health Law.
By far, President Duterte’s is the strongest presidential pronouncement on this controversial law that took one and a half decades and endless debates both in and out of Congress, to pass. While former President Noynoy Aquino was instrumental in the eventual enactment of RH, and this is not a minor feat, his public pronouncements, even after the bill’s passage, have never been as strong and as direct as the one we heard during Digong’s first Sona.
Not only did President Duterte call for the full implementation of the RH law. He did the same for the Magna Carta of Women. This is important as well because the MCW contains important RH-related provisions under “Women’s Right to Health.” Indeed, his pronouncement relative to women’s rights is a most welcome development.
As a member of the National Implementation Team for the RH Law, I am all too familiar with how government, particularly the Department of Health, has been moving towards the law’s implementation. As an activist who has been mostly critical of government, I can say that on this particular legislation, the DoH has been moving and trying its best to fulfill its mandate.
Despite the best of intentions, however, there are major stumbling blocks. Two of the law’s most challenging programs have to do with “age—and development—appropriate sexuality and RH education,” and family planning.
The first has to do with education, both in school, and in the alternative learning system. Sadly, despite the Supreme Court decision declaring RH education as constitutional, the Department of Education (under the last administration has moved ever so slowly so that until now, this important program has yet to be implemented.
We are, however, optimistic that the new Education Secretary, Liling Briones, will move fast on this. After all, besides the fact that Briones is a known progressive and a women’s rights advocate, the President’s directive is very clear. Hopefully, sexuality and RH education can already be implemented by the next school year. This program is quite important to help curb our teenage pregnancy rates, among the highest in the world.
Modern family planning, on the other hand, is a different story. While the DoH has been moving strongly in the implementation of the program, there are problems. One has to do with some anti-RH mayors who refuse to implement family planning methods that use contraceptives.
There are those who do this quietly by simply not implementing the program. And there is one, like Sorsogon City Mayor Sally Lee who has directly challenged the law by passing a resolution declaring that the city is “pro-life” and in effect only implements Natural Family Planning (NFP) methods. There has also been an attempt to pass a city ordinance prohibiting the use of contraceptives. If this succeeds, access to these family planning commodities whether from public or private sources, will be removed.
As it is, women in Sorsogon City, particularly those in poverty, already have a problem with the LGU’s refusal to provide them with contraceptives. If the ordinance is passed, even those who buy their contraceptives will no longer have access. All Sorsogon women will be deprived of a very important program that will enable them to actualize their rights, better take care of their health, and plan their families.
LGUs are within the executive branch headed by the president. It will be most interesting to know how anti-RH mayors are going to follow (or not) PDD’s directives.
The biggest and most urgent obstacle in implementing modern family planning at this point is the Supreme Court’s Temporary Restraining Order against sub-dermal implant contraceptive and further registration of all other contraceptives.
In June 2015, the SC issued the TRO in response to a petition by Alliance for the Family Foundation alleging, among other things, that hormonal contraceptives are abortifacient and that the Food and Drug Administration did not consult them during the process of certification/registration of these contraceptives.
The SC’s TRO prohibits the DoH and its agents from administering and promoting implant contraceptives, AND prevents the FDA from further registering or certifying contraceptives. It should be noted that implants is the most popular family planning method especially among women in poor communities primarily because it is effective for three years. Women line-up to get the implant. By restricting government from making this available, the SC has effectively limited women’s choices when it comes to family planning and deprived them of a long-acting method in planning their families.
An emerging bigger problem brought about by the TRO is the matter of registration of contraceptives. If the SC continues to delay its decision, the certification of contraceptives will lapse. As of this writing, 31 percent of the certifications have already lapsed. Meaning, these brands can no longer be available if the TRO is not lifted.
By 2019, 98 percent of all certifications will lapse. This means that contraceptive supplies will already be almost zero since these commodities also expire. This is a very serious, if not catastrophic situation because we will no longer have a family planning program. Even those who source their contraceptives from private sources will no longer have access.
Imagine the millions of unplanned, unwanted pregnancies that women will have. Imagine how many teenagers will end up pregnant over and over again. Imagine how many unsafe abortions will happen because of the unwanted pregnancies. And imagine how many mothers will die because of pregnancy and childbirth related complications.
While we welcome President Digong’s intent to fully implement the RH, this will be most difficult to do if our justices continue to sit on the TRO issue. The SC must do its part in the full implementation of a law that it has pronounced not unconstitutional.
The SC must now decide. Deny the petition against the RH law and lift the TRO. We need to go full blast in the law’s implementation.
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