House passes RH bill on 2nd reading

MANILA, Philippines - The controversial reproductive health bill came closer to being signed into law after the House of Representatives passed it on second reading during an overnight voting that was concluded early Thursday.

 

A total of 113 members of the House voted for the passage of the bill on second reading, 104 voted against it and three abstained.

 

Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada, who presided over the voting, expressed his support for House Bill 4244 after announcing the result of the nominal voting that started late Wednesday night and ended at past 2 am Thursday.

 

Tañada also congratulated the lawmakers present for showing "courage" by agreeing to finally put the contraceptive bill into a vote.

 

The bill has been pending in Congress for 14 years.

 

Before the nominal voting, Tañada initially declared that the "ayes" won via viva voce or voice voting.

 

Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, however, motioned that the voting result be confirmed through nominal voting.

 

The House leadership agreed and gave congressmen 3 minutes each to explain their vote.

 

After declaring the bill's passage on second reading, Tañada declared set the next session on Monday next week at 4 pm.

 

Teens' access to contraceptives

 

On Wednesday night, the Senate adopted an amendment removing a provision in its version of the controversial bill, which allows minors' access to contraceptives.

 

Voting 9-7, the senators agreed to Sen. Ralph Recto’s proposed amendment to remove the line “no person shall be denied information and access to family planning services, whether natural or artificial” inserted in Section 7 of the proposed Senate Bill 2865 or An Act Providing for a National Policy on RH and Responsible Parenthood.

 

Recto introduced the amendment that would require minors to produce written parental consent before they can be given access to contraceptives.

 

"I don't think any parent would allow their (sic) children who are minors to go to government health centers where they would be given contraceptives," Recto said.