Globally, countries are liberalizing abortion laws to respond to demands of women’s rights movements and comply with international human rights standards. Just recently, the Supreme Court of Mexico, a Catholic-majority country like the Philippines, has ruled criminal penalties on abortion as “unconstitutional”.

In line with our commitment to expand the reproductive rights of women, we in Laban ng Masa present the following information so the public is better informed on the issue of abortion and decriminalization of abortion:

• Abortion is already happening in the country. Penalizing abortion has not been effective in lowering abortion rates. Instead, it has only forced women to seek out unsafe abortions. In 2012 alone, the Philippines is estimated to account for a total of 610,000 induced abortions. From this number, 100,000 resulted in hospitalization while 1000 women died from complications. This means around three women die from abortion every day. Numbers have gone up because of the pandemic. The UP Population Institute estimated that for every month of the pandemic last year, an increase in the number of induced abortions is expected at 17,000 and 60 additional maternal deaths per month.
• Abortion is both a women’s rights and a social class issue. Filipino women who induce abortion represent the majority of Filipino women – poor, Roman Catholic, married, with at least three children, and have at least a high school education. They also identify various reasons for inducing abortion, from economic ability to rape. Penalities on abortion will fall heavily on the poor and marginalized as the rich are able to access abortions abroad or pay local doctors handsomely to undergo the medical procedure in confidence.
• Decriminalizing abortion means revising the penal code to remove penalties on abortion so women are not punished for making difficult decisions over their bodies, health, and lives. This should not be made an issue of morality and religion because no one will be forced into providing abortions or accessing abortions, only that those who may want to provide or access should not fear punishment.
• Guaranteeing the right to safe abortion strengthens public health. Abortion should be treated like every other form of healthcare - providing access to safe abortion services, based on best practice and provided by trained professionals. Healthcare services will never be able to provide adequate care if women and healthcare practitioners fear imprisonment. Because of fear and the stigma surrounding abortion, there is also confusion when it comes to providing post-abortion care, which is guaranteed by law.
• Abortion is about the woman’s body and her right to make decisions about her body. The woman’s right to her body only becomes true if she is given the right to abortion. This applies to all women.

We in Laban ng Masa believe that our political leaders should hold themselves to higher standards by encouraging good faith and evidence-based discussions on issues such as abortion, not adding to the stigma and violence that Filipino women already experience on a daily basis.

As the current administration continues its mismanagement of the country’s pandemic response, we are deeply concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls’ essential needs, access to reproductive health services, and risk to various forms of violence.

We hope that all candidates in the upcoming election will be taking seriously the issues that affect Filipino women and girls. Women and girls have been consistently failed by the current leadership’s misogyny and ignorance, and, now amid this pandemic, by their incompetence and neglect.

Laban ng Masa

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