Most aspirants pro-family planning, anti-abortion

By Lilita Balane, Newsbreak

But none seems to consider maternal health as priority

MANILA - Five presidential aspirants on Tuesday declared their position on highly sensitive issues such as birth control and abortion—with most of them favoring state funding for the former and unconditional opposition to the latter—but they hardly impressed reproductive health specialists.

Dr. Junice Melgar, executive director of women’s health organization Likhaan, said she was expecting to hear how the so-called presidentiables would address deaths in women if they get elected in 2010.

However, she said, it seems that maternal health is not a priority on the agenda of former President Joseph Estrada, Senators Francis Escudero and Richard Gordon, environmentalist Nicolas “Nick” Perlas, and Olongapo City Councilor Carlos delos Reyes.

“It was very frustrating. I expected a presidential debate where presidential candidates will really be clear in their position on maternal health, and will see it as a national issue that is linked to poverty and other issues impeding the country’s progress,” Melgar said at the end of the forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines and the United Nations Development Program.

The forum was organized to know the position and platform of presidential aspirants to alleviate poverty, provide access to primary education, and improve maternal health.

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