Enrile on RH: Life begins at fertilization

MANILA, Philippines - Senators voted on six of 17 amendments to the Reproductive Health (RH) bill which Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile put on the floor on Monday, scrapping a closed definition on when life begins in the womb.

Enrile, citing the constitution's guarantee of the protection of a zygote from conception, moved to define human life to begin at fertilization or the union of the female ovum and the male sperm.

"I must tell you that before I crafted this definition, I, too, consulted many doctors, many experts. In fact, they gave me a graph on where life begins. This is a product of (a) serious reflection," Enrile said.

The bill, crafted by Senators Pia Cayetano and Miriam Defensor Santiago, refuses to prescribe when an embryo is considered a living being as even science cannot determine when life begins, Cayetano said.

"I do not believe that all our collective wisdom cannot take the place of scientific experts trying to define when life begins. Even the experts do not pretend to have that kind of wisdom," Cayetano added.

A provision highlighting the rights of the unborn over conditions provided by international bodies and an amendment that prevents abortion on Senate Bill 2865 were approved.

The panel, meanwhile, also chose to preserve the bill's provisions that characterize it as a population control measure while being health statute.

Enrile then suspended the Senate's voting on the rest of his proposed amendments, giving way to revisions offered by Senator Ralph Recto who removed the bill's mandate requiring local government units to provide comprehensive training and reproductive health services.

"We cannot supply [contraceptives] when they are not demanded," Recto said, referring to the lack of resources in the enforcement of the bill.

The senators also approved Recto's amendment to remove the bill's provision which may compel private health care providers to offer RH services.