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What is your opinion about the practice of family planning? Are you for it or against it?
With the growing population in the country and with the number of unwanted pregnancies in the Philippines, I am definitely in favor of the practice of family planning. In 2008 alone, the results of the National Demographic and Health Survey revealed that 36% of births in the Philippines are either unwanted (16%) or mistimed (20%) (Philippine Statistics Authority, n.d.). Such number might be the result of the lack of reproductive health law as it was only signed in 2012 and its implementation was delayed by the Supreme Court in 2013. This is also in addition to the data that reveal that more than half of the married women (51.2%) are not using any contraceptive methods. Thus, it is expected that there would be a high number of unwanted pregnancies without the practice of family planning, which also means that there is also a higher incidence of poverty among families since a good number of the couples who have unwanted pregnancies do not have the capacity to sustain the responsibility of raising a child and a family. This can also mean that there would be more children not being able to receive all their basic necessities and as a result, they would have to dwell on the streets to find foods that would relieve their hunger.
In connection, RH law posits that the National government should guarantee a universal access to effective, legal, and quality healthcare services, methods, devices and supplies. Among all people, it's the community from the marginalized sectors who are in need the most of access into family planning. This is not to degrade or shame them for not having the capacity to raise a family, but my point is that the government should exert more efforts into making the practice of family planning a norm and necessity for every couple (married or in-union) to achieve our goal of reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. This is to ensure that every couple would realize their shared responsibility and that they would be responsible parents for their soon to be born child. The world is already cruel enough, and we don’t want more children suffering from that cruelty alone and without the care of their parents. Thus, it’s only fitting that the practice of family planning should be the norm or standard while simultaneously respecting the wishes of every couple. After all, the job of the health care providers is to supply them with the knowledge that would enable them to have informed choices, and not to coerce them with what we think is the best.
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Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions? Elaborate your answer.
Yes, I am in favor of the Reproductive Health law because the number of unwanted and teenage pregnancies is very concerning in our country. In teenage pregnancy alone, the Philippines still has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates among the ASEAN members wherein more than 500 adolescents are becoming pregnant and giving birth everyday (UNFPA, 2020). In connection, UNFPA (2020) posits that the key solutions in addressing teenage pregnancy are comprehensive sexuality education and better access to services for adolescents.
With RH law, such solutions can be achieved since one of the aims of the said law is to provide reproductive health and sexuality education for the youth. This might be controversial since the country is a conservative country and sex has always been a taboo topic. Some still believe that abstinence is the key solution in ending teenage pregnancy, but the reality is premarital sex is very prevelant in the country, and it is always better to have these people protected (from unwanted pregnancy and STI) than having to rely on the ineffective and unguaranteed safety of unprotected sex.
Other provisions of the RH law include (1) access to services on Reproductive Health (RH) and Family Planning (FP), with due regard to the informed choice of individuals and couples who will accept these services, (2) maternal health care services, including skilled birth attendance and facility-based deliveries, and (3) regular funding for the law’s full implementation. These provisions specifically benefit women because finally, they are given the empowerment to make decisions concerning their health and body. This allows families to pursue first their life commitments and endeavors while not sacrificing their sexual relationship with their spouses, and provides them the ability to decide when to have children. Allowing and aiding families to have the necessary knowledge that help them decide the number of children and when to have them is very important. I believe that all pregnancies should be wanted because all children deserve to experience the love, care, attention and feelings of wantedness of their parents.
References:
A Primer on the Reproductive Health Law. (2013). Philippine Legislator’s Committee on Population and Development Foundation. Retrieved from: https://www.plcpd.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/A-primer-on-the-Reproductive-Health-Law.pdf
Eliminating Teenage Pregnancy in the Philippines. (2020). United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Retrieved from: https://philippines.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/UNFPA_Policy_Brief_Teenage_Pregnancy_%282020-01-24%29.pdf
One in three births in the Philippines is unplanned. (n.d.). Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved from: https://psa.gov.ph/article/one-three-births-philippines-unplanned
Philippine Supreme Court Upholds Historic Reproductive Health Law. (n.d.). Center for Reproductive Rights. Retrieved from: https://reproductiverights.org/philippine-supreme-court-upholds-historic-reproductive-health-law/