Jian Gabriel C.

Umipig

LAWPOLS – A52

The Reproductive Health Law

Assuming that teenage pregnancies are still on the rise which adds to our population and more
children will experience poverty then the law is not properly executed. My position on Reproductive Health
Law is that it is good for our country since many people lack the proper knowledge when it comes to sex
and to our reproductive system especially when it comes to women’s bodies. Moreover, this should be a
stepping-stone, not a hindrance in making abortion legal in our country. I support the law since it will lessen
unwanted children, lessen reproductive health complications, and facilities for health care will become more
accessible. But with the said increase in teenage pregnancies, I must that it is not effective.

The advantage of this law is that many people will now be educated when it comes to sex and to
our reproductive systems in terms of health and such. Filipino women and children will have more
advantages. Filipino women will have access to comprehensive information and service to RH law.
Moreover, as different contraceptives are being introduced, this helps couples to be more responsible for
their action by not having an unwanted child. It also gives hospital-based family planning which gives us
services like ligation, vasectomy, and intrauterine devices in all government hospitals.

However, the law is not effectively working as of now. Because the Philippines is a catholic
country, people have different beliefs in accordance with life. Some people believe that using contraception
is equivalent to murder while some argued that it is to prevent having babies. Furthermore, the increase in
the use of contraceptives also increases sexual activities which can later result in AIDS or other STDs. The
law for me is somehow an anti-poor law it is because access to education and information is more biased
toward people who don’t have money, it’s only for the people who can afford it. The price of contraception
can’t be afforded by a poor family, instead of buying contraceptives they bought food. And lastly, RH law
violates human rights which are protecting the unborn person. It has been said to our laws that all person
whether born or unborn has a right to live.

As for my experience, it is not effective. I have many friends from tondo, manila because I grew
up there and many of them had teenage pregnancies. This implies that the Law is not executed properly,
and it is only for the people who have the capabilities to have access to the facilities and education. The
increase in the number of teenage pregnancies indicates that this law is not applicable to our country. As
we can see women that are experiencing teenage pregnancy come from poor families because they have no
proper foundation in terms of sex, family planning, and health care. The RH law says that it will be
accessible to all people and yet when you ask someone from poor areas in the Philippines, they still don’t
know what the meaning of it.

It is not effective because all the written information in the law is not accessible to the poor and the
catholic church still opposes the law. Family planning is crucial because Filipinos tend to create a family
without planning it which results in having many problems like financial problems and forcing their
children to work. But according to Daily Inquirer, the RH law is targeting to have a 65% of contraceptive
prevalence rate which as of today it achieves 40% of it. It is still not effective since many of our Filipino
women cannot access health care services which results to having miscarriages, and complications for the
child and women.

Since, we have statistics on teenagers getting pregnant, a married couple that has unwanted
pregnancies, and the rate of people who wants an abortion is increasing therefore RH law is not effective.
This law prevents abortion but deals with post-abortion which clearly misguides information. Abortion in
the Philippines is illegal, but they provide post-abortion care for it, so this means they are aware of how
high the rate of women who aborts. What I want to say is that do not prevent abortion instead make this
law a stepping-stone to legalized abortion in the Philippines

For this law to become more effective, I would like to recommend that the price of every
contraceptive is more affordable, sex education will not be only taught during school hours, and government
should give more funds and make it a starting point for legalizing abortion.

For me, lowering the price of contraceptives will encourage people to use the product.
Contraceptives are used for us to prevent having an unwanted baby. Most of the victims of teenage
pregnancy came from poor families or in rural areas. This implies that contraceptives are indeed not
affordable in most cases and people are not aware of it so it should also be taught outside of school like in
barangays.

Secondly, sex education is only taught during science subjects. It is not enough for the students to
just learn about our reproductive system in just an hour. Teaching it outside school hours can give more
information and orient them in that kind of stuff. Today’s generation, we have spent most of our time on
social media. Using social media can reach a lot of areas like people in far-flung areas because by using
social media, information will become more accessible to the public.

And lastly, the government should put more budget into it. Contraceptives and check-ups are
expensive for most people therefore I suggest that they should provide free contraceptives and check-ups
for people who can’t afford them. The budget allocated for this law should be used for advertisements,
building more healthcare facilities, and providing free services in every government facility. In the
Philippines, we are dominated by private companies when it comes to hospitals this is why married couples
or women that have no capacity to afford private doctors, just buy painkillers or go to “albularyo”.
Furthermore, RH law should be their starting point in legalizing abortion in the Philippines. Since this law
promotes using contraceptives, it should also promote abortion and not discourage it. It also needs some
revision since it gives a piece of misguided information to the people, particularly in the part of preventing
abortion but gives service to post-abortion complications. They are aware of illegal abortion, yet they
provide service for this when they can just provide both services to lower the risk of women who undergoes
a dangerous abortion.

Considering my values, principles, and upbringing, I can say that I’m in favor of RH Law. Because
it helps people to be more aware of what we are capable to do like the pros and cons of having sex. It also
teaches us to be responsible and accountable people since doing the act of sex is easy so you should take a
sense of responsibility and accountability when something happens.

Sex is not for procreation only. Nowadays, people are curious about what sex can do or feel. Our
country is religious, and it taught us that sex is only for procreation only but science, it teaches that it has a
lot of benefits, and our body needs it. But again, the concept of procreation is also good because it teaches
us doing the act of sex is sacred which gives us respect for our body and to be sure that we want a family.
This can prevent an unwanted baby to be born and teenage pregnancy.

The proper age for sex education is as early as grade six students. At this age, students start to
develop curiosity but lack critical thinking. The introduction of sex education will give them more insight
into reality. Moreover, according to the statistic that ages 12 and above are the age when teens get pregnant
or can get pregnant because girls are now ovulating.

I think teaching sex education will lessen pregnancies but will likely lead to doing more sex
activities since they are now equipped with such knowledge. Sex education cannot prevent people from
getting pregnant, it still depends on people doing the act of sex. What sex education can only do is lessen
women getting pregnant and gives knowledge to people.

The size of the family should be determined base on their salary, the capacity of the house, and the
age of the couple. Furthermore, If the size of a family is reached, I will not avoid having sex. But instead,
I do a vasectomy and encourage my partner (in the future) to do the counterpart of male vasectomy so that
we can still enjoy the excitement and feeling of having sex. Our late president Benigno Aquino III, handle
the issue more effectively because during his administration they created the RH law which gives people
knowledge of what to do regarding this problem.