Asia Pacific

Essential Points about the

Philippine Consolidated Reproductive Health Bill (Also knows as “The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011”

in substitution to House Bill Nos. 96, 101, 513, 1160, 1520 and 3387) What is the aim of the proposed bill in its current state? The bill, officially titled “An act providing for a comprehensive policy on responsible parenthood, reproductive health, and population and development and for other purposes” coercively advances government-run population control as the essential link to economic development. What does this bill propose as the solution to the Philippines economic problems? The stated “guiding principle” of the bill is that “the limited resources of the country cannot be suffered to be spread so thinly to service a burgeoning multitude that makes the allocations grossly inadequate and effectively meaningless.” As a remedy, the bill mandates a state imposed reproductive health curriculum in schools, a state recommended two child per family policy, provides access to contraceptives to children from age eleven onwards without parental consent, family planning certification as a prerequisite to receiving a marriage license, and provides the framework for future adoption of abortion as a human right. Does this bill protect the rights of conscience of those that will be responsible for implementing the new measures? No. This bill states that all reproductive health workers “provide information and educate” and “render medical services” consistent with the new provisions in this bill. Similar to the recently passed healthcare legislation in the United States, this bill does not include measures that protect conscientious objections for healthcare workers or institutions that refuse to provide certain services due to religious or cultural beliefs and practices. In addition, the health care workers that receive this new training will receive a 10% honorarium to incentivize them to buy into the new programs. Also, through state imposed reproductive health curriculum in schools, this undermines the rights of parents to be the primary educators of their children. What are the needs of the Philippines and does this bill address them? No. The real needs of the Philippines are access to education and health care facilities, better infrastructure and sanitation methods, and skilled birth attendants. Improved education and better infrastructure (such as seaports and airports) will boost the employment rate and reduce poverty. More hospitals, cleaner health care facilities and skilled birth attendance will reduce maternal health. Moreover, even if the measures proposed in this bill (such as greater access to contraceptives) would solve the country’s needs, there are no provisions of how such measures are to be executed, given the current lack of infrastructure for hospital care and medical provisions and access to doctors or nurses. Have population control methods ever succeeded in reducing poverty? Despite countless studies, there has never been a direct link connecting high population with high poverty rates. During the 1970s and 1980s, Singapore instituted an aggressive two-child policy which led to a situation of labor shortages and the difficulty of supporting an aging population. Today, Singapore now pursues a pro-fertility policy. In Hong Kong, the government was able to overcome dismal conditions and a dense population (five times more than the government declared to be its carrying “capacity”) and it has experienced a great economic boom and high levels of economic prosperity due to a sound banking system, no public debt, a strong legal system, and a rigorously enforced anti-corruption regime.