What is your opinion about the practice of family planning? Are you for it or against it?
I am all for family planning! Having seen and heard from personal relations how unplanned/unexpected pregnancy drastically changes a person’s (man or woman) life, I understand the importance of having a method to practice one’s freedom to decide when to get pregnant (including the timing and spacing of any pregnancy) and how many children to have.
Family planning “enables parents to deliberately and responsibly decide the number and spacing of their children, by avoiding for the time being, or even for an indefinite period, a birth” (DOH, n.d.). It educates parents and the youth on responsible parenting and allows them to form their own accurate, balanced, and complete informed choices. It promotes responsible parenthood in a country where sexual education is limited, religion plays a larger part in health discussions than science, premarital sex is present but abstinence is seen as the only acceptable solution against teenage pregnancy, and sex is a taboo topic. I believe that family planning is vital in this conservative country where one in three births was unplanned in 2008 and there were 2.56M unintended pregnancies in 2020 (PSA, n.d.; Regala, 2020).
This program offers many benefits to the mother, children, and the family. According to the DOH, the mother is enabled to regain her health after delivery and given enough time and opportunity to love and provide attention to her family, for her own personal advancement, and for treatment and recovery when suffering from an illness. Healthy children are provided healthy mothers and the attention, security, love, and care they deserve. The family, particularly the father, is enabled to give his children their basic needs, given time for his family and own personal advancement, given time for treatment and recovery when suffering from an illness, and has his burden and responsibility in supporting his family lightened.
Are you in favor of the Reproductive Health Law and its provisions? Elaborate on your answer.
Yes, I’m in favor of the RH Law and its provisions. The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 guarantees universal and free access to nearly all modern contraceptives for all citizens, including impoverished communities, at government health centers, mandates reproductive health education in government schools, and recognizes a woman’s right to post-abortion care as part of the right to reproductive healthcare. I am pro-RHLaw because, through these primary goals, women and the youth are able (or might) to act on their reproductive rights.
I particularly like and agree with the provision regarding universal and free access to modern contraception. With this, I believe women are given control over deciding what to do to their bodies and therefore, empowered to determine and participate in their health plans and interventions. They are given power over their bodies. This universal and free access may prevent unintended pregnancies that may alter their lives. I like that women were put first!
The provision on providing reproductive knowledge and information through government intervention is something I welcome because it allows those from urban-poor areas (people who have many children) to understand reproductive health and to gain access to family planning programs. Through this, they are given the opportunity to escape from poverty by learning how to manage their sexual lives, plan the timing and spacing of their pregnancies, and how to control their sexual activities.
Controversial as it was (and still is) in this conservative country, it is important in addressing the nation’s health problems.
REFERENCES:
Center for Reproductive Rights. (2014, April 8). Philippine Supreme Court upholds historic reproductive health law. https://reproductiverights.org/philippine-supreme-court-upholds-historic-reproductive-health-law/#:~:text=The%20Responsible%20Parenthood%20and%20Reproductive,communities%2C%20at%20government%20health%20centers
DOH. (n.d.). What are the benefits of using family planning?. https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/What-are-the-benefits-of-using-family-planning
DOH. (n.d.). What is meant by family planning? https://doh.gov.ph/faqs/What-is-meant-by-Family-Planning
PSA. (n.d.). One in three births in the Philippines is unplanned. https://psa.gov.ph/article/one-three-births-philippines-unplanned
Regala, A. (2020, August 14). Significant rise in maternal deaths and unintended pregnancies feared because of COVID-19, UNFPA and UPPI study shows. UNFPA. https://philippines.unfpa.org/en/news/significant-rise-maternal-deaths-and-unintended-pregnancies-feared-because-covid-19-unfpa-and