EDITORIAL - Unintended pregnancies

Between 2015 and 2019, approximately 51 percent of pregnancies in the Philippines were unintended, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The UNFPA report also ranked the Philippines 56th among 150 countries in terms of unintended pregnancies, with 71 per 1,000 women having such pregnancies per year.

The report shows the challenges in promoting access to reproductive health services in this country, despite the passage of Republic Act 10354 or the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act back in 2012.

It’s been a long journey for reproductive health in the Philippines. President Duterte, who included RH in his priority socioeconomic agenda at the start of his administration, had a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in 2014 upholding the salient points of the RH law. But his government had to wait until November 2017 for the SC to lift a two-year-old restraining order on the government’s distribution of 51 contraceptives including two types of subdermal implants.

While upholding the constitutionality of RA 10354, the SC also struck down eight provisions of the law, mostly allowing minors access to RH services without parental consent, and imposing penalties on health workers who refuse to provide RH services.

RH proponents in Congress lauded the high tribunal’s ruling even as they vowed to tweak the RH law to correct what they say are the deficiencies that led to the SC’s rejection of the specific provisions.

Implementation of the program, however, cannot wait. The pandemic threatened to derail the delivery of RH services, but the Commission on Population and Development reported intensified efforts during the COVID lockdowns. PopCom believes this helped avert approximately 200,000 unwanted pregnancies.

Sustaining the RH program will be among the challenges for the incoming administration, as it confronts the economic devastation from the pandemic and moves for inclusive growth.