The will to make it happen

Now would apparently be the best opportunity to pursue the no-holds, full implementation of the reproductive health (RH) law, more so with the support of President Duterte who is currently basking in a record-high 91 percent trust rating among Filipinos. As they say, strike while the iron is hot.

For more than a decade, the proposal for a reproductive health law had always been a contentious issue, and even after its passage into law in 2012, and continuing after the Supreme Court later ruled that the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law was constitutional, albeit minus some provisions.

The original law after the Supreme Court’s intervention has been considerably weakened. Now, the husband has to give consent for the wife to avail of reproductive health services. Minors also have to gain parental support for medical care in the event of pregnancy or miscarriage.

Continued strong protest

The reason for this would be a strong anti-RH initiative lobby group of vigilant citizens and organizations, and an influential core within the legislature itself. Seen strongly behind the anti-RH or pro-life movement is the Roman Catholic Church that has always viewed any form of family planning as against its teachings.

The latest blow to the government’s intent to introduce sweeping reforms to improve reproductive health delivery especially among poor women was when P1 billion from the Department of Health’s budget for the purchase of family planning products such as condoms, birth control pills, intrauterine devices, and contraceptive injectables were slashed.

This effectively reduced the budget allocated for Family Health and Responsible Parenting from P3.27 billion to only P2.27 billion, and has been criticized by pro-RH advocates as prejudicial particularly to poor women who rely on the government’s local health centers for free family planning products.

The current administration must find ways to raise that “lost” billion to ensure that there would be a continuous supply of family planning products in heath centers that need it most.

Importance of state support

It must be stressed that without state support, the Philippines’ battle to curb population growth to more manageable levels, to stop teenage pregnancies, to reduce the risks of unwanted pregnancies leading to unsafe abortions, and to protect the reproductive health of women in general would be futile.

This was most apparent during those long years of fierce debates on the merits of introducing state support for reproductive health, including inclusion of sex education in elementary students’ curriculum and free consultations of family planning in local health centers.

The same case could be implied from the City of Manila during the term of former mayor Lito Atienza when he declared the city as pro-life and banned all family planning methods in local government clinics except for the natural, church ascribed form.

During the last 15 years, there had been a staggering 70 percent increase in teenage pregnancies nationwide, with one out of 10 women aged 15 to 19 becoming a mother. The Philippines now has the highest birth rate in this age bracket in the region.

Worse, the number of deaths from unsafe pregnancy among Filipino women had risen to 14 per day, from 11. The country’s maternal mortality rate, which is monitored as a key Millennium Development Goal, continues to be at an unacceptably high rate of 221 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Missing the ‘sweet spot’

Translated to the country’s economic goals, the long tussle to institutionalize proper reproductive health measures has caused the Philippines to miss the so-called “sweet spot” when in 2030, there should have been more Filipinos participating productively in the economy as against the number of less productive young and old.

With our current record of population growth, more Filipinos are pushed into the poverty trap, making it more difficult to maximize economic gains and sustain long-term growth. Should the RH law take full effect now, that so-called sweet spot would likely be experienced only in 2050.

Full implementation of the RH law entails total enforcement reproduction health education in schools and local health units, and reproductive care especially in areas where there are huge communities of poor women.

We would know if the RH law is working if both fertility and infant mortality rates are reduced, if more families take up family planning, and if more youth are able to join the labor force without the burden of raising a family.

Stopping teenage pregnancies

One of the worst enemies of the country at this point is the prevalence of teenage pregnancies. Too many of our young get tied up in the responsibility of raising a family without completing their high school education. This makes attaining an improved quality of life almost impossible. In fact, they become a burden to society rather than an asset.

Teenage pregnancies can be drastically reduced with proper sex education in school. Too many of these early pregnancies have been a result of ignorance about the perils of having children at an age where they still do not have the skills to earn a decent living.

The irony of teenage pregnancies is that there will be more children following the first, which just makes the task of rising above poverty levels more difficult.

Two-children rule

One of the campaign statements of President Duterte has been to curb family size to two children. Alongside the full implementation of the RH law, mandating new families to limit the number of their children to two would help greatly in achieving better quality lives.

In truth, a one-child rule would be better, just as China had done in some three decades ago when it decided to pursue economic growth. By limiting its population growth, China was able to focus on enhancing the productivity of its citizens. Today, China has relaxed its one-child policy after achieving what no country in the world has done at so short a time.

If President Duterte were to seriously pursue economic growth for the Philippines, then regulating our population growth, regarded as one of the fastest in the world, has become a must. Only then will there be a chance for sustainable economic growth in the foreseeable future.

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