RHAN Request for Dialogue on Legislative Agenda

25 January 2011
His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III
President
Republic of the Philippines
Manila
 
Dear Mr. President,
 
In behalf of the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network and our thousands of members all over the Philippines, we would like to convey our sincere appreciation for your decision to recommend to the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) the inclusion among the priorities of the 15th Congress of a measure based on the reproductive health bills. We, who have been working in the area of family planning and reproductive health for 20 to 40 years, are heartened that your position on responsible parenthood has remained steadfast and validates our own decades-long effort of providing and advocating for access to full family planning information and services, especially for poor and disadvantaged sectors, as a matter of human rights.

We hope that your version of responsible parenthood will eschew the approach of the former Arroyo government which unfortunately had the similar name "Responsible Parenthood Movement". The past president promoted only natural family planning, allowed the banning of artificial family planning by local government executives (like Manila, Northern Samar and Antipolo), and refused to budget or receive allocation from Congress for family planning. An anemic and erratic national family planning/reproductive health program for the past 10 years has contributed to the present reproductive health crisis characterized by a large number of preventable maternal and neonatal deaths, high rates of unintended pregnancy and induced abortion, surging HIV particularly among young male adults who have barely begun their productive life, and the exacerbation of poverty among families unable to regulate the size of their families. Your unflinching support for a different brand of responsible parenthood will be a major step in the reversal of the above conditions.

Mr. President, as you try to put together your recommendations for the LEDAC, we hope that you will equally consider the following suggestions from reproductive health practitioners, educators and advocates:

1.   Ensure full family planning information and services to all methods that are safe, effective and legal, based on informed choice and guaranteeing government budgetary and program support, especially for the family planning decisions of poor and disadvantaged groups.

2.   Mandate sexuality education integrated in school curricula for young people transitioning into puberty and adolescence to prevent sexual abuse, early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

3.   Ensure women’s and newborns’ survival from life-threatening maternal complications by enabling the adequate provision—especially in the public health system—of skilled attendance at delivery and the timely treatment of the most serious obstetric emergencies

4.   Develop an integrated approach to reproductive health problems that includes the prevention, early detection, and treatment of serious reproductive conditions like HIV and AIDS, post-abortion complications, and reproductive tract cancers.  

In the interest of fairness and in keeping with democratic processes, we hope that you will find the time to meet with us as you have done so with representatives of groups opposed to reproductive health.

Sincerely,