In 2011, 49% of married Filipino women were using any method of contraception, slightly

higher than the proportion in 1998 (47%), but lower than the proportion in 2008 (51%).

• Many women are unable to achieve their desired family size, in part because modern method
use is low. On average, Filipino women give birth to more children than they want (3.3 vs. 2.4
children), highlighting how difficult it is for a woman to meet her fertility desires.[3]

• The gap between desired fertility and achieved fertility is particularly striking among the
poorest Filipino women who have nearly two more children than they want (5.2 vs. 3.3).

• Though married Filipino women showed a modest increase in modern method use between
1998 and 2011 (28% vs. 37%), the latter rate was substantially lower than the average for
Southeastern Asia (55%) and the rates in other populous countries such as Indonesia (57%),
Vietnam (68%) and Thailand (79%).

• Among women using any form of contraception, one in four use a traditional, less-effective
method, such as periodic abstinence.[1]

UNMET NEED FOR MODERN CONTRACEPTION IS

HIGH AND UNINTENDED PREGNANCY IS COMMON
• In 2011, nearly 20% of married Filipino women had an unmet need for contraception; these
women did not want a child soon or wanted to stop having children all together, but were not
using any contraceptive method.[1]

• Little progress has been made toward reducing the proportion of married women who want to
avoid pregnancy but are not using a method of contraception. The proportion of married women
with an unmet need for contraception was the same in 2011 as it was in 1998.[1]

• Unmarried women who are sexually active have a significantly higher level of unmet need than
married women. In 2008, nearly 70% of unmarried Filipino women wanting to avoid a
pregnancy had an unmet need for a modern method.[3]

• In 2008, 54% of all pregnancies in the Philippines—approximately two million—were

unintended and 90% of those unintended pregnancies occurred among women who were using
traditional, ineffective methods or no method at all.[6]

• A 2009 study of the benefits of meeting contraceptive needs concluded that if all Filipino
women at risk for unintended pregnancy used a modern method, unplanned births would decline
by 800,000 per year and there would be 500,000 fewer abortions per year.[6]

CLANDESTINE ABORTION IS WIDESPREAD IN THE

PHILIPPINES
• The Philippines abortion law is among the strictest in the world. Abortion is illegal under all
circumstances and there are no explicit exceptions. Nonetheless, because of high levels of
unintended pregnancy, abortion is common in the country. Projections that were based on the
national abortion rate in 2000 (the most recent available) and that took into account population
increase estimated that 560,000 abortions occurred in 2008 and 610,000 abortions took place in
2012.[2,8,9]

• Women who have abortions are similar to Filipino women overall: They are typically Catholic,
married, are mothers and have at least a high school education. The most common reason women
give for having an abortion is their inability to afford raising a child. Other commonly cited
causes are that they felt they already had enough children or that their pregnancy came too soon
after their last birth.[1]

• Nearly all abortions are clandestine and carry associated risks, though the skill and training of
providers vary. Although some women are able to obtain medically recommended procedures,
many resort to untrained providers who use dangerous methods, putting the health of the woman
at serious risk.[5]

• Poor Filipino women are significantly more likely than nonpoor women to use riskier methods
of abortion and they therefore disproportionately experience severe complications.[5]

• According to the 2004 national abortion study, an estimated 22% of poor Filipino women used
a catheter or heavy abdominal pressure in an abortion attempt, while no nonpoor women resorted
to such methods. Moreover, poor women were far less likely to use safer methods, such as
dilation and curettage or manual vacuum aspiration (MVA), than the nonpoor (13% vs. 55%).

• About 1,000 Filipino women die each year from abortion complications, which contributes to
the nation’s high maternal mortality rate. Projections that were based on data from 2000 indicate
that 100,000 women were hospitalized for abortion complications in 2012; countless others
suffered complications that went untreated.[4,9]

• The stigma surrounding abortion makes it difficult for women to seek postabortion care. Some
women report feeling shamed and intimidated by health care workers and in some cases, women
are not given pain relievers or anesthetics or are denied treatment all together. Others report
being threatened that they would be turned over to the police.[5,8]

• Doctors themselves report having a bias against postabortion care patients; some believe that
these women have committed punishable crimes.[5,8]

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH LAW AND POLICY

• The Reproductive Health Law (RH Law), passed in 2012, has several provisions that have the
potential to dramatically improve women’s health and reduce maternal mortality, and to confer
social and economic benefits that would help families, communities and the nation.
• The RH Law mandates the supply of full range of contraceptive methods, particularly to
marginalized populations and the poor.[7]

• The law requires the provision of “humane and nonjudgmental postabortion care.” The law also
prohibits private providers, local government officials and employers from banning, restricting
or coercing the use of reproductive health services.[7]

• As of early 2013, implementation of the RH Law was delayed by the Philippines Supreme
Court. Still, the passage of the bill represents a historic milestone.

• In contrast to the liberalizing trend in contraceptive policy, abortion in the Philippines remains
illegal under all circumstances and is highly stigmatized. Although a liberal interpretation of the
law could exempt abortion provision from criminal liability when done to save the woman’s life,
there is no such explicit provision. There are also no explicit exceptions to allow abortion in
cases of rape, incest or fetal impairment.[8,10,11]

• The Penal Code renders abortion a criminal offense, punishable by up to six years in prison for
doctors and midwives who perform the procedure and by 2–6 years in prison for women who
undergo the procedure. A separate set of laws under the Midwifery Act, Medical Act and
Pharmaceutical Act permit the revocation or suspension of the licenses of any practitioner who
performs abortions or provides abortifacients.

RECOMMENDATIONS
• Educate the public about modern contraceptives and the risks of unintended pregnancy and
unsafe abortion.

• Ensure adequate funding for the full range of contraceptive methods, as well as counseling, so
that women can find and use the methods that are most suitable to their needs.

• Eliminate barriers to contraception among vulnerable populations—such as poor women, rural

women and adolescents—by making clinics more accessible and youth-friendly and by
providing free or low-cost family planning.

• Integrate contraceptive services with other reproductive health services, and provide
contraceptive counseling and services for women in postpartum and postabortion care settings.

• Destigmatize postabortion care among providers, to ensure fair and humane treatment and
among the population as a whole, to encourage women to seek timely postabortion care.

• Train more medical providers, including midlevel personnel, in the use of safer and less
invasive methods of postabortion care (such as MVA), and ensure availability of these methods
in relevant health facilities.

• Ensure that all women have access to emergency obstetric and neonatal care.
• Study the impact of the current abortion ban, and explore allowing abortion at least in
exceptional cases, such as to save a woman’s life or preserve her health, in cases of rape or
incest, and when there is gross fetal deformity incompatible with life.

References
1. Philippines Department of Health, National Statistics Office (NSO) and U.S. Agency for
International Development, Fertility and family planning: 2011 family health survey, 2012,
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/98937655/Fertility-and-Family-Planning-2011-Family-
HealthSurvey-for-2011>, accessed Dec. 15, 2012.

2. Population Division, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, File 5B:
female population by single age, major area, region and country, annually for 1950–2010
(thousands), medium fertility variant, 2011–2100, in: United Nations, World Population
Prospects: The 2010 Revision, CD-ROM, New York: United Nations, 2011.

3. NSO and ICF Macro, Philippines National Demographic and Health Survey, 2008, Calverton,
MD, USA: NSO and ICF Macro, 2009.

4. Population Division, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World
contraceptive use 2011,
<http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/contraceptive2011/wallchart_front.pdf>,
accessed June 19, 2012.

5. Singh S et al., Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in the Philippines: Causes and
Consequences, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006.

6. Darroch JE et al., Meeting women’s contraceptive needs in the Philippines, In Brief, New
York: Guttmacher Institute, 2009, No. 1.

7. Congress of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 10354, July 23, 2012, <
http://www.gov.ph/2012/12/21/republic-actno-10354/>, accessed Feb. 22, 2013.

8. Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the
Philippines Criminal Abortion Ban, New York: CRR, 2010.

9. Juarez F et al., The incidence of induced abortion in the Philippines: current level and recent
trends, International Family Planning Perspectives, 2005, 31(3):140–149.

10. Boland R and Katzive L, Developments in laws on induced abortion: 1998–2007,

International Family Planning Perspectives, 2008, 34(3):110–120.

11. Population Division, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Abortion
policies: a global review, 2002,
<http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/profiles.htm>, accessed Dec. 15, 2012.
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Abortion
Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution says, in part, "Section 12. The State recognizes the
sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social
institution. It shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from
conception."

The act is criminalized by Philippine law. Articles 256, 258 and 259 of the Revised Penal Code
of the Philippines mandate imprisonment for women who undergo abortion, as well as for any
person who assists in the procedure. Article 258 further imposes a higher prison term on the
woman or her parents if the abortion is undertaken "in order to conceal [the woman's] dishonor".

There is no law in the Philippines that expressly authorizes abortions in order to save the
woman's life; and the general provisions which do penalize abortion make no qualifications if the
woman's life is endangered. It may be argued that an abortion to save the mother's life could be
classified as a justifying circumstance (duress as opposed to self-defense) that would bar
criminal prosecution under the Revised Penal Code. However, this has yet to be adjudicated by
the Philippine Supreme Court.

Proposals to liberalize Philippine abortion laws have been opposed by the Catholic Church, and
its opposition has considerable influence in the predominantly Catholic country. However, the
constitutionality of abortion restrictions has yet to be challenged before the Philippine Supreme
Court.

The constitutional provision that "[The State] shall equally protect the life of the mother and the
life of the unborn from conception" was crafted by the Constitutional Commission which drafted
the charter with the intention of providing for constitutional protection of the abortion ban,
although the enactment of a more definitive provision sanctioning the ban was not successful.
The provision is enumerated among several state policies, which are generally regarded in law as
unenforceable in the absence of implementing legislation. The 1987 Constitution also contains
several other provisions enumerating various state policies.[note 1] Whether these provisions may,
by themselves, be the source of enforceable rights without implementing legislation has been the
subject of considerable debate in the legal sphere and within the Supreme Court.[note 2]

An analysis by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs concluded that although the Revised Penal Code does not list specific exceptions
to the general prohibition on abortion, under the general criminal law principles of necessity as
set forth in article 11(4) of the Code, an abortion may be legally performed to save the pregnant
woman’s life.[2]

Abortion incidence
One 1997 study estimated that, despite legal restrictions, in 1994 there were 400,000 abortions
performed illegally in the Philippines and 80,000 hospitalizations of women for abortion-related
complications;[3] It was reported in 2005 that official estimates then ranged from 400,000 to
500,000 and rising, and that the World Health Organization estimate was 800,000. Seventy
percent of unwanted pregnancies in the Philippines end in abortion, according to the WHO.
Approximately 4 in 5 abortions in the Philippines are for economic reasons, often where a
woman already has several children and cannot care for another.[4]

While some doctors secretly perform abortions in clinics, the 2,000 to 5,000 peso (US$37 to
US$93) fee is too high for many Filipinos, so they instead buy abortifacients on the black
market, e.g. from vendors near churches, sari-sari stores and bakeries.[4] Two-thirds of Filipino
women who have abortions attempt to self-induce or seek solutions from those who practice folk
medicine.[5] One hundred thousand people end up in the hospital every year due to unsafe
abortions, according to the Department of Health,[4] and 12% of all maternal deaths in 1994 were
due to unsafe abortion. Some hospitals refuse to treat complications of unsafe abortion, or
operate without anesthesia, as punishment for the patients.[4] The Department of Health has
created a program to address the complications of unsafe abortion: Prevention and Management
of Abortion and Its Complications.[6]