Abortion in the Philippines

Currently, the Philippines has a population of 109 million Filipinos, with an expectancy of
about 1.79 million newborns as families continue to be deprived of access to adequate family
planning. There are cases of unwanted and mistimed pregnancies in the country and most of
the women in the country seek abortion. However, abortion in the Philippines is frowned upon
as it is punishable by law. This position paper seeks to decriminalise and legalize abortion in the
country. The World Health Organization defines abortion as pregnancy termination prior to 20
weeks' gestation or a fetus born weighing less than 500 grams (Weiss, 2012).

In this position paper, decriminalizing and legalising abortion means that safe abortion
will now be medically induced in public or private hospitals, and it is the best choice for women,
in general. Without a doubt, abortion should be decriminalized and legalized for the benefit of
many women.

Before going to the three points presented in support to the stand of this position paper,
the counterarguments will be presented first for the purpose of rebuttals. The other side argues
that from the womb, that the fetus is already a baby, a human being, thus, abortion is murder
since the fetus experiences pain. In line with this, Manila Congressman Bienvenido Abante
argues that abortion as a practice is a violation of the moral laws of the country. He said that
abortion is the termination of pregnancy resulting in and to death, and one cannot simply justify
it. The amendment of the Constitution must be applied because the law clearly states that
abortion cannot be legalized in this country because it would mean the death of an unborn child
(Singh, 2006).

However, when most abortions are carried out, fetuses are incapable of experiencing
pain. According to a review by the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2019), “most
neuroscientists believe that the cortex is necessary for pain perception.” The cortex does not
become functional until long after most abortions are done, at least on the twenty-sxith week of
the development of a fetus. They stated that there was no legitimate scientific information that
supports the statement that a fetus experiences pain (Lee, 2009).

According to Derbyshire (2020), fetuses do not experience pain. Biological development

and the environment after birth supports this claim as studies show that the fetus does not
experience pain. The reactions seen in fetuses when they detect pain stimuli are mere reflexes,
not an indication that the fetus is perceiving pain. Fetuses can not feel pain until the twenty-ninth
or thirtieth week of gestation.

Also, if abortion is murder, the continuing with childbirth when the mother and fetus are
at stake of death is murder as well. Especially when a fetus poses a threat to that body they are
in. By this fact alone, legal abortions are considerably safer than childbirth. If women become
pregnant, they should accept the responsibility that comes with producing a child. People need
to take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences. Having sexual intercourse,
even when contraceptive methods are used, carries with it the risk of a pregnancy. A mistake
caused by adults should not blame the unborn baby for it. They can at least put them up for
adoption if women are unprepared to provide for their children (Likhaan, 2007).

This is a big no as this only opens the fact that the child will grow as being unwanted in
the family or the family will be put at a financial disadvantage since they cannot provide for the
child. Furthermore, putting up your child for adoption will cause the child to feel psychologically
unwanted as well. According to a study from Finer, (2005) 73% percent of women seek
abortions because they are financially unready to have a child because they come from a low-
income household.

The first point is that the decriminalization and legalization of abortion is necessary in order to
address the rising of domestic violence and rape among women and children which leads to
unwanted pregnancy.

According to the Philippine National Police, there has been a total of 602 rape cases
reported in last year during the first months of the lockdown, as well as 3,700 cases of sexual
violence against women and children nationwide, and can still be counting until today. The
Philippines showed one of the highest rates of adolescent fertility in Southeast Asia. Intimate
partner violence is also expected to increase, because for instance women and girls are more
likely to be stuck with the abusers at home (Lee, 2009).
 Although many of such gender-based violence cases will be unreported, the study
estimates a 20% increase in intimate partner violence, physical or sexual from 2019. As you can
see, the cases of unwanted pregnancy due to domestic violence is increasing drastically. A
medically induced abortion will save the woman’s life and the life of its womb by not forcing the
womb to live in an unwanted life. Thus, the decriminalization and legalization of abortion will not
only adress unwanted pregnancy due to rape and sexual violence, this will also reinforce
Republic Act 9262, also known as the ‘Violence Against Women and Children’ and this will
strengthen Republic Act of 9710 or the ‘Magna Carta of Women’ (Grimes, 2006).

The second point is that the decriminalization and legalization of abortion is beneficial
because it will address the danger of unsafe abortions among women.

Tens of thousands of Filipino women who have unintended pregnancies each year face
a difficult choice: either give birth to a child they are not prepared or unable to care for, or obtain
a clandestine, and often unsafe, abortion. Since abortion is highly stigmatized and punishable
by law, it is extremely challenging to directly estimate the number of abortions in the Philippines,
as both women and providers are likely to not report the procedure. A study by the University of
the Philippines Population Institute and the United Nations Population Fund revealed that the
annual total Filipino women of reproductive age (15-49 years of age), who do not use any
contraception even though they do not want to become pregnant, can also increase by another
2.07 million by the end of this year (Juarez, 2005).

According to a study by Juarez (2005), before abortion was legalized, women would
frequently try to induce abortions by using unsafe medicine or going to illegal abortionists.
Furthermore, the World Health Organisation reports that illegal abortions cause 68,000 maternal
deaths ever year, many of which occur in developed countries where it is difficult to access safe
and legal abortion services. Thus, the decriminalization and stigmatization of abortion will only
increase the maternal deaths from illegal abortions.

According to a study in New York Institute (2005), it was simplified that the most recent
estimate on the national abortion incidence rate in the Philippines estimate that a rate of 27
abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age were happening in the year 2000. Distinctly, this
incidence rate was notably higher than the recent estimate of unsafe abortion rate in the whole
Southeast Asia with only 22 abortions per 1,000 women, indicating that the Philippines may
have more unsafe abortions than its neighbouring countries. These projections were based on
the 2000 national abortion rate, and taking into account the population decrease in that year, it
was estimated that 560,000 abortions occurred in 2008 and 610,000 abortions in 2012. As a
result of complications from illegal abortion, tens of thousands of Filipino women are admitted
every year, at a frequency of 5 per 1,000 women, and countless others have complications but
do not receive treatment. Thus, access to legal, professionally-performed abortions reduces
maternal injury and death caused by unsafe, illegal abortions.Because of the risks of unsafe
abortion, many women need postabortion care, but they face barriers in obtaining such care,
including the stigma around abortion and the high cost of medical care (Likhaan, 2007).

The third point is that the decriminalization and legalization of abortion is practical
because it is the woman’s choice if they want to abort an unintended or unwanted pregnancy.

In 2008, there were 1.9 million unintended pregnancies in the Philippines, which results
to two outcome such as the inevitability of unplanned births and unsafe abortions. In the
Philippines, 37% of all births are either mistimed or entirely unwanted while 54% of all
pregnancies are unintended. Filipino women, on average, give birth to more children than they
intend. Addressing how difficult it is for a woman to fulfill her needs for fertility. This is really
concerning especially since among the poorest Filipino mothers most of them almost have two
more children than they expect to have. Adolescent women are especially at risk of unintended
pregnancy because they lack access to comprehensive sex education and services of
contraceptives (Ericta, 2012).

In line with this, the government should study the impact of the current abortion ban, and
explore legalising abortion in exceptional situations at least, such as saving the life of a mother
or maintaining her health, in cases of rape or incest, and where gross fetal deformity that are
incompatible to life exists. We should also destigmatize postabortion care by health care
providers, to ensure equal and compassionate service and to enable women to pursue post-
abortion care among the public as a whole. We should educate the public about contraceptives
and raise awareness on the risks of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions. We should also
provide sexuality education and family planning at low or no cost. Lastly, we should eliminate
barriers to contraception among vulnerable groups, including women and adolescents from poor
and rural populations by making clinics more accessible and
 To summarize, decriminalising and legalising abortion in order to address rape and
sexual violence among women and children, to address unsafe and illegal cases abortions that
are professionally performed in the country which endangers the health of the woman, and to
address unintended and unwanted pregnancies. Reproductive choice empowers women by
granting them autonomy of their own bodies. The decision as to whether to have children is
crucial to the freedom and independence of a woman to decide her financial welfare, health,
and future.
References

Ericta, C.N. (2012) Household population of the Philippines reaches 92.1 million, press
release, Manila, Philippines: Household Statistics Department, National Statistics Office,
Aug. 30, 2012, http://www.census.gov.ph/content/household-population-philippines-
reaches-921-million>, accessed

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

Grimes, D.A. (2006) Unsafe abortion: the preventable pandemic, Lancet,

368(9550):1908–1919.

National Statistics Office and ICF Macro, Philippines National Demographic and Health
Survey, 2008, Calverton, Maryland, USA: NSO and ICF Macro, 2009.

Singh, M. (2006) Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in the Philippines:

Causes and Consequences, New York: Guttmacher Institute.

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

Lee, R. (2009) The influence of local policy on contraceptive provision and use in three
locales in the Philippines, Reproductive Health Matters, 2009, 17(34):99–107.
Likhaan, M. (2007). Reproductive Health, Rights and Ethics Center for Studies and
Training, and CRR, Imposing Misery: The Impact of Manila’s Ban on Contraception,
Quezon City.

Weiss, K. (2012), Philippines birth control: Filipinos want it, priests don’t. Los Angeles
Times, http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/population/la-fg-population-
matters5-20120729-html,0,5897961.htmlstory