1. What is your opinion about the practice of family planning? Are you for it or against it?
I believe family planning is more than just deciding when you’ll have children and how you’ll avoid unintended conception. I see the practice of family planning as a means to ensure the family’s health, most especially of the woman and the child. When a couple practices family planning, the mother has enough time to recover and regain her health after giving birth to a child, and focus her energy on child-rearing and making sure her baby’s growth and development are normal and without complications. Furthermore, with the help of the opportunities and options that family planning gives, such as proper birth spacing, more time for the mother to recover from childbirth, and natural or modern family planning methods, it becomes more likely that the baby will get all the attention, love, care, and needs he/she deserves, ensuring the health and well-being of the born child. Hence, I am for family planning simply because it gives couples and individuals the opportunity to build their own families according to their own terms, in their own time, with the reduced risk of endangering the mother and their children’s health.
2. Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions? Elaborate your answer.
The following provisions are the central reasons why I am in favor of RA 10354, otherwise known as The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012.
Provision of Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Care Services and Information. The Department of Health (DOH) and the local government units (LGUs) ensure that couples and/or individuals are able to create plans and strategies to attain their family life aspirations while taking into account their own psychological, sociocultural, and economic status as well as have access to a full range of methods, facilities, and supplies that contribute to their reproductive and sexual health and well-being. The government agency and units ensure that all of these are provided at the appropriate level of care. Furthermore, the implementing rules also make sure that introductory materials (e.g., primers, health use plans) on responsible parenthood and reproductive health care are made available in major local languages (e.g., Tagalog, Bisaya) to all individuals seeking information on reproductive health, and are filled with necessary, evidence-based, and comprehensible information about the topic.
Access to Family Planning Information and Services. No one is denied access to a full range of modern family planning methods including medical consultations, supplies, and necessary procedures especially for poor/marginalized couples or individuals, with the exception of minors first needing consent from their guardians unless already with child. These family planning methods provided are safe, effective, non-abortifacient, legal, and are registered with the FDA (as applicable). It’s also important to note that the implementing rules ensure that the DOH procures, distributes to LGUs, and monitors the usage of family planning supplies for the whole country while prioritizing the poor, and taking into consideration the number of women with unmet needs for modern family planning.
Hiring of Skilled Health Professionals for Maternal Health Care and Skilled Birth Attendance. We cannot reiterate enough the roles that skilled health care providers have in successfully implementing proper reproductive health care and teaching safe and effective family planning methods. Ideally, thanks to this provision, there should be enough nurses, midwives, and other skilled maternal health care providers in all health units to attain an ideal skilled health professional-to-patient ratio.
Public Awareness, Health Promotion, and Communication. Lastly, this is clearly included in the provisions of the law but it’s the part where I think DOH and local government and health units can improve. I think it’s possible that inadequate public awareness, health promotion, and communication can contribute to an even higher unmet need for family planning, especially when we take into consideration the women that are unfamiliar with family planning. Truly, there is importance in sustaining a heightened nationwide multimedia campaign that raises the level of public awareness on the protection and promotion of responsible parenthood and reproductive health and rights.
From my perspective, the law is extremely helpful for all Filipinos, especially women and their families; however, much like other laws in the country, the problem lies in its proper implementation. It would be a big help if only the system (i.e., government agencies, local units, and even health care providers themselves) can acknowledge its flaws and work towards the improvement of actually implementing the law like how it's supposed to.
References
Department of Health. (n.d.). WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF FAMILY PLANNING? https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/What-are-the-benefits-of-using-family-planning
Philippine Commission on Women. (2012). Republic Act 10354: The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012. GOVPH. https://pcw.gov.ph/republic-act-10354/