November 29: International Day on Women Human Rights Defenders
In the Philippines, the government’s policies on sexual and reproductive health services, in practice limit the opportunities of women to have control over whether and when to become pregnant and effectively deny them enjoyment of their sexual and reproductive rights. Women living in poverty are the most affected by these policies, which fail to support them in preventing mistimed or unwanted pregnancies, drive them further into poverty, and lead to harm to their health and wellbeing.
Government policies prioritise ‘natural’ family planning methods (periodic abstinence or withdrawal). Abortion is a crime in all circumstances. The Catholic Church strongly influences the government’s policy on contraception, leading the government, for instance, to ban the emergency contraceptive Postinor in 2001 as a result of scientifically false claims that Postinor induces abortion.
The example of Manila illustrates how, in the absence of national legislation regarding reproductive health, local government policy can lead to denial of access to reproductive health information and services. In 2000, an executive order by the mayor of Manila promoting ‘natural’ family planning led to an end to the provision of free condoms and contraceptive pills at city health centres and hospitals.
Denial of access to contraception provided free of charge by the government hits a larger number of individuals at a time of economic crisis which results in prices of all goods and commodities rising, impacting disproportionately on women.
Three quarters of sexually active adolescents do not use any contraceptive method. Even though many of them may be unwilling and ill unprepared to become parents, many do not have adequate information on how to prevent pregnancy. One in four girls and women begin childbearing before they reach the age of 20. 20% of Filipino women who die a maternal death are teenagers, and in 17% of foetal deaths the mother is a teenager.
According to the government, 400,000 Filipino women resort to clandestine abortions each year, though other estimates are higher. Many abortions are carried out by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking minimal medical standards or both. According to the latest estimates, around 800 women per year die from complications of unsafe abortion. The government also states that 17 percent of women aged 15-24 have had at least one abortion. According to research from 2006, 54% of women who end an unintended pregnancy by abortion were not using any family planning method when they conceived. Three-fourths of those using contraception at that time were using a ‘natural’ or folk family planning method.
About ten Filipino women die everyday from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, according to the Senate of the Philippines. Fourteen per cent of all deaths of Filipino women aged 15-49 are maternal deaths. The national maternal mortality ratio is 162 per 100,000 live births but for some regions the figures are much higher. The Philippines will likely not meet its Millennium Development targets on maternal mortality reduction. The large majority of the women affected live in poverty and are in the prime of their lives.
Likhaan is one of the organizations working at the grassroots level with women in marginalised communities to make reproductive rights real. The organisation runs community-based primary health care projects directed at women and young people. Helping women to organize their own advocacy for access to health care, Likhaan lobbies health policy makers to become responsive to the needs and rights of people in marginalised communities. The organisation also raises health care providers’ awareness of the rights of the women and trains them in the provision of women-centred primary health care. The organisation’s priority concerns for advocacy include access to contraception, maternal health, sexual and reproductive health services for young people, post-abortion care, therapeutic abortion and making the health system equitable.
In 2008, 20 people from some of Manila’s poorest communities, both men and women, filed a constitutional challenge against the Manila mayor’s executive order on family planning, relying on the findings of research by Likhaan and the Center for Reproductive Rights on how this order leads to violations of women’s human rights.
Likhaan and a broad range of other organisations and individuals are advocating for the government to pass a Reproductive Health Bill aimed at helping women avoid unplanned, mistimed and unwanted pregnancy. The Bill promotes both natural and modern family planning methods and post-abortion care as well as various maternal health measures and reproductive health education. A recent legislative victory for women’s human rights, the ‘Magna Carta of Women of the Philippines’ of August 2009, which requires the government to take measures towards the substantive equality of women and men, also has implications for women’s reproductive rights: in accordance with this law, discriminatory laws affecting women have to be amended or repealed within three years.
“What is also part of poverty is that people lack confidence in themselves. They do not see their social institutions as responding to them. They don’t know how to deal with social institutions. They do not have the skills that will make the local government officials or local government agencies accountable to their needs. It doesn’t matter if people are poor, in poor communities. They deserve the best possible health service that we can give then”, says Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, Likhaan co-founder and Chair of the Board. “Poverty is not a reason for second-grad health service.”
‘Filipino women claiming reproductive rights’ video highlights a broad range of sexual and reproductive rights issues in the Philippines through the lens of Likhaan’s work. The video is based on interviews with Likhaan activists and service providers, and women who have received the organization’s services. The women speak about both the transformative power of reproductive rights activism for women in marginalized communities and the challenges they encounter at family, community and government level.
We support the work by Likhaan and other organizations that work for gender equality, sexual and reproductive rights and effective participation in decision-making and their call on the government to pass the Reproductive Health Bill and undertake all other measures required for individuals’ enjoyment of their reproductive rights.