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Statement of Support for a Reproductive Health Act
From the University of the Philippines Manila Center for Gender and Women Studies
The University of the Philippines Manila Center for Gender and Women Studies calls for the urgent passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill in Congress. As members of the UP Manila community, the recognized health sciences center in the country, we support a rights-based national policy on reproductive health. We reiterate our duty as health care providers to uphold patients' right to informed choice and access to a full range of legal, effective and safe reproductive health care services.
We need a Reproductive Health law because the policies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stands firm in its narrow interpretation of reproductive health as reduced to family planning, and favoring only natural family planning.
Moreover, the Catholic Church, the staunchest critic of the bill, has been spreading misinformation and has even gone to the extent of threatening to excommunicate legislators who support the bill. The progressive sectors of the Catholic Church has always been an ally in the struggle for basic social services, community-based health programs, environment protection and social justice but its conservative leaders remain opposed to relevant and appropriate policies and programs in reproductive health and sexuality that goes beyond natural family planning.
The RH Bill is not anti-life. It does not legalize abortion. It goes beyond family planning, covering a full range of services including maternal and child health and nutrition, promotion of breastfeeding, reproductive health education, fertility interventions, male involvement and participation in reproductive health, prevention of abortion and management of post-abortion complications, prevention and management of gynaecological conditions, and provision of information and services addressing the reproductive health needs of the marginalized sectors.
The RH Bill, in the context of a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources, supports a better quality of life for Filipinos, especially women who have historically been marginalized and denied equal opportunities for the attainment of the highest standards of living.
The State has the primary obligation to uphold every human being's inalienable human rights and reproductive health is a human right. May we also remind the State as well as the Catholic Church that it is the right of all individuals to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.
We as health care providers call for strengthened capability building of health workers not just in hospital-based settings but also in community-based settings like midwives and barangay health workers who will cater to the health care needs, including Reproductive Health needs, of the poorest sections of the communities. We also demand adequate funding for RH programs and the health sector in general.
RH should not only be rights-based but must also be within the framework of the Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care - health as a right, inequities in health are rooted in the inequities in society, multisectoral collaboration, scientifically sound approaches and genuine people's participation. People have the capability and responsibility to participate and take care of their health. Furthermore, let us contextualize RH in the context of socio economic policies towards achieving a genuine economic development that would lead to better educational and health services access.
We ask you, honorable legislators in Congress and in the Senate, to address our needs and uphold our rights. We salute you, RH champions - legislators, the DSWD, the DOH, the DILG and other government, non-government and development agencies - in your courage and determination. We strongly support you in your struggles against the forces that oppose reproductive health and reproductive rights.
Anthony GH Cordero, MD
Director, UP Manila Center for Gender and Women Studies
15 August 2008
Lecture on gender issues in the workplace
Dr. Anthony Cordero, director of the University of the Philippines Manila Center for Gender and Women Studies, will conduct a lecture on the topic, "Gender Issues/Problems in the Workplace" for the 1st International Postgraduate Course in Occupational Health and Safety to be held this October 2008.
Bibliography of local publications
This includes a bibliographic database of local publications available at the UP Manila CGWS library. Click here.
