TRO on RH law exposed flaws in statute – Gabriela

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court’s order to suspend implementation of the Reproductive Health (RH) law exposed the flaws in the statute during its crafting in Congress, the Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP) said yesterday.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said they had earlier warned about these flaws while the bill was being deliberated.

Ilagan said the SC hold order that effectively suspended “the implementation of the RH Law affirms that the struggle for women’s health continues.”

“Various dissenting opinions including Gabriela’s reservations as explained in our vote when the law hurdled deliberations in the Lower House underscores the various criticisms raised on the RH law,” Ilagan said.

She said the RH law’s “population control framework effectively defeats its publicized intent to provide health services and unmasks the Aquino government’s duplicity amid the privatization of government hospitals and health services.”

“The fight for women’s access to healthcare continues and we remain steadfast in pushing for pro-women, pro-poor and pro-health legislation,” Ilagan said.

Former Akbayan party-list representative Risa Hontiveros said she would ask the SC to reconsider its hold order.

“While I respect to the decision of the Supreme Court, I believe that the hold order will cause an alarming aggravation of a status quo that causes maternal deaths and deprivation of the right to health of many Filipinos,” she said.

While pro-RH advocates are gearing up to defend the law before the Supreme Court, “the immediate implementation of the law provides instant relief to women and mothers who are vulnerable to debilitating but preventable conditions,” Hontiveros said.

“There should be no folding of our purple banners yet. We shed tears of joy when the law was finally enacted, but we are always ready to defend our gains and push for more reforms,” Hontiveros said.

“For 15 years, we carried the bill in our belly and struggled to have it enacted. Now that it’s born, there’s a new obstacle. We never expected that it would be easy, but the opponents of women’s rights and of reproductive rights should realize that we will not let them steal our gains. We will defend the bill because it is morally right to do so and because the law is constitutional,” she said.

“We will defend the RH law in the same way that mothers defend their children,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health in Bulacan launched a caravan for health promotion in Calumpit town.

The Lakbay Buhay Kalusugan caravan was launched to promote and teach basic ways to improve health and lifestyle, especially of mothers, according to Anthony Roda, division chief of the DOH’s national center for health promotion.– With Dino Balabo