GED0101 College Academic Skills in English (CASE)

1st Semester, A.Y. 2020-2021

Outline of Postion Paper

I. Introduction
A. Introduce the topic
Abortion is the procedure that includes the removal of an embryo or fetus to the
woman’s womb. In other words, the procedure done to terminate a pregnancy.
(Medline Plus, 2020)
B. Provide background on the topic
Abortion is a social issue that includes various moral and ethical standard/dilemma
in the country. With most of the citizen in the Philippines being a Roman Catholic,
the implementation and legalization of abortion is proven to be harder to do and
the education regarding about the topic and other issues surrounding it are seen to
be scarce.
C. Assert the thesis (your view of the issue; write your thesis statement)
Abortion should be legalized and implemented in the Philippines, as this allows
woman a better access to health care and a broader knowledge on Reproductive
Health and their Rights.
II. Counter Argument
A. Summarize the counterclaims
1. Abortion are unethical and unnecessary to implement since there is a foster
care and adoption system in the country that they can run to if they cannot
provide for the child.
2. Abortion can be damaging to the overall health of the women, especially their
reproductive health.
3. Implementation of Abortion will encourage the people, most especially youths,
to engage in pre-marital sex and will diminish their perspective on the
importance of pregnancy, marriage, and sexual relationships.
B. Provide supporting information for counterclaims
 1. The foster care system is a system where foster parents provide temporary
shelter, food, and care for children that cannot be provided by their biological
parents, until they are ready to be adopted. Adoption is the process where the
chosen and qualified adoptive parent/s, choose to adopt a child and be
permanently and legally responsible to the child’s welfare and life. This process
both require for the biological parent to give up their right, voluntarily or not.
2. Abortion includes a variety of procedure; it can be a Surgical Abortion
(Equipment assisted) or Medical Abortion (taking a pill), and both procedure
includes risk to the health care of a women that could affect their health and life
permanently. This risk includes bleeding, relapse, infection, and damage of
organs that can potentially lead to death.
3. Premarital sex is an act of engaging in a sexual relationship with others before
marriage. This is a widely accepted concept in the western countries, but in the
Asian countries. It is somehow considered a taboo and a sin. Since most Asian
countries still extremely upholds the sacredness of purity in marriage and
virginity, which is heavily influenced by their beliefs and religion.
C. Refute the counterclaims
1. The Foster care and adoption system is not that well known in the country. Few
people have an idea on what even fostering is, and there are millions of
children that are still living in the shelter and cannot seem to get out of the
system. Therefore, adoption and foster solution for the mother and child is not
ideal. Since, there are still millions of children in the system, what is the
certainty that the child that the mother left will be adopted immediately? And the
agencies that handles this situation is not well staffed and considered to be too
forbidding.
2. Abortion that could cause permanent damage to the women’s welfare, is what
the medical organizations call an “Unsafe Abortion”. Abortion is only risky and
unsafe when women access the unsafe one.
3. The permissive views of the people, especially the youths, towards Sex or
Premarital sex is not because of the legalization of Abortion. The reason for it is
due to the lack of Sex-Education of the youths. Their awareness and education
 on what having a sexual interaction/relationship with their partner is, its
aftermath, the possible risk etc. is certainly lacking and this should be also
discussed.
D. Give evidence for argument
1. Michelle Sambalilo, was a child found in the manila northern cemetery, then
later placed in a state-run shelter in the Philippine’s capital, that was notoriously
known for negligence. Sambalilo was a 12-year-old child (later found to be 14
years old) that was prepared to be adopted by a couple in Louisiana. However,
due to her lack of “necessary” documents such as birth certificate and parents’
death certificate, which she cannot procure/produce since she was abandoned
ever since she was young, she was kept on the wait-list. And when her
documents were found, the agency took too long to process her documents
that when it was ready, she was considered too old to be adopted (15 years olf)
(Kaiman & De Leon, 2016).
2. Abortion becomes risky and unsafe when it is done by an unlicensed
professional. It cannot be denied that there are still risk that comes with the
procedure, even in the hands of a professional. But according to Whitlock
(2019), there is no medical procedure that is without risk. Every medical
procedure, may it be necessary or optional, carries a risk and a potential risk of
death. Therefore, if the logic applies to everything, then every medical
procedure (surgical/non-surgical) should not be implemented at all and should
be illegalize.
3. The youths are engaged in premarital sex because of their lack of education
towards the issue. Teenage pregnancy is getting alarmingly high, due to
teenagers being uneducated on what sexual intercourse/relationship is and
how to be protected towards pregnancy and diseases they can possibly
contract. The problem lies to the fact that rather than treating it as a social issue
that needs to be addressed by the state. It is treated as a moral dilemma that
should be solved by the religious sector of the country. (Crisostomo, 2019)
 III. Conclusion
A. Restate your argument
Abortion should be legalized and implemented in the Philippines, as this allows
woman a better access to health care and a broader knowledge on Reproductive Health
and their Rights.
B. Provide a plan of action
The state should focus on implementing laws that involves the reproductive
health, of not just the women, but the entirety of the country. And education surrounding
the topic should be done first, because feeding the curiosity of the youths and
controlling their education by giving them truths, is one way to prevent youths in
engaging in sexual interaction and accessing false facts. Getting to the root of the
problem and bringing awareness and education to the society, is the best way to push
the state
Gabrielle R. Caguiat
BSMT 144/ Section 40
Abortion is the procedure that includes the removal of an embryo or fetus to the
woman’s womb. In other words, the procedure done to terminate a pregnancy (Medline
Plus, 2020). It is a topic that is still in an ongoing debate as it is a social issue that runs
over various traditional moral belief and ethical standards/dilemma of the society,
specifically the Philippines, as it is a country where most citizens being a Roman
Catholic. With this situation laid out, the implementation and legalization of abortion is
proven to be harder to do and the education regarding about the topic and other issues
surrounding it are seen to be scarce. And with that I personally believe that Abortion
should be legalized and implemented in the Philippines, as this allows woman a better
access to health care and a broader knowledge on Reproductive Health and their
Rights.

As the time progresses, society does too. The continuous Women Empowerment
Movement has raised a lot of issues concerning women’s health, right, and life. Access
to abortion being a prominent one. As the movement aims to support women who faces
various social issues that illustrates inequality and misogynistic social construct. It is
easy to assume that all the women around the world supports the Legalization of
Abortion. However, different people have different values and beliefs, and it is the same
with this one. Ironic may it sound, but there are a lot of women who supports Women
Empowerment but cannot fathom the topics concerning Abortion. And this is where the
question “Are you Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?” comes into play.

According to an article in BBC many of the women who supports Women

Empowerment but does not support Abortion are active in promoting other viable and
practical solutions to the causes that drives women to abortion. Because they believe
that right to life (Pro-Life) should always outweigh the right of an individual to equality
and to control their own body (Pro-Choice). Other reasons are that they believe and
argue that Abortion does not free and liberate women rather it allows society not to
cater to women’s need. But the argument that was written in the article that stood out to
me is that “Abortion damages women” may it be physically and emotionally. They
believe that abortion carries a risk and has a long-term effect on the overall health of the
women.

Abortion includes a variety of procedure; it can be a Surgical Abortion

(Equipment assisted) or Medical Abortion (taking a pill), and each procedure includes
risk to the health care of a women that could affect their health and life permanently.
This risk includes bleeding, relapse, infection, and damage of organs that can
potentially lead to death. With that, we can conclude that their argument is true, that
indeed, abortion is risky.

However, Abortion becomes risky and unsafe when it is done by an unlicensed

professional. Because according to World Health Organization, the main cause of
fatalities in abortion is when women accessed the unsafe one and comes into contact
with a unlicensed professional and that one in four women who undergo an unsafe
abortion is likely to develop temporary or lifelong disability requiring medical care. One
primary example is an article written by Jacob (2019) in Rappler, it covers the story of a
young woman named Mylene, a young doctor who was raped by her politician sponsor
and how the young doctor died due to committing a self-induced abortion.

Still it cannot be denied that there are still risk that comes with the procedure,
even in the hands of a professional. But according to Whitlock (2019), there is no
medical procedure that is without risk. Every medical procedure, may it be necessary or
optional, carries a risk and a potential risk of death. However, they can be minimized
with a proper procedure and handling of a proper professional. Therefore, the argument
that Abortion should not be implemented as they carry risk, is certainly not right.
Because if the logic applies to everything, then every medical procedure (surgical/non-
surgical) should not be implemented at all and should not be illegalize.

Another argument that is being constantly raised when Abortion is being opened
is that, Abortion are unethical and unnecessary to implement since there is a foster care
and adoption system in the country that they can run to if they cannot provide for the
child. Foster care system is a system where foster parents provide temporary shelter,
food, and care for children that cannot be provided by their biological parents, until they
are ready to be adopted. Adoption is the process where the chosen and qualified
adoptive parent/s, choose to adopt a child and be permanently and legally responsible
to the child’s welfare and life. This process both require for the biological parent to give
up their right, voluntarily or not.

Many Pro-Life supporters argues that there are a lot of alternatives that women
can use to solve their problem, other than abortion. They believe that if you can’t
provide financial support for the baby/child, leave it to the foster care system and let
other people, who wishes to have a child but can’t, adopt the baby.

However, the solution may sound ideal and viable, but the Foster care and
Adoption system is not that well known in the country. Only few people have an idea on
what even fostering is, and there are millions of children that are still living in the shelter
and cannot seem to get out of the system.

One prominent example is the story of an orphan named Michelle Sambalilo. She
was a child found in the manila northern cemetery, then later placed in a state-run
shelter in the Philippine’s capital, that was notoriously known for negligence. Sambalilo
was a 12-year-old child (later found to be 14 years old) that was prepared to be adopted
by a couple in Louisiana. However, due to her lack of “necessary” documents such as
birth certificate and parents’ death certificate, which she cannot procure/produce since
she was abandoned ever since she was young, she was kept on the wait-list. And when
her handler, Malongga, found her birth certificate hidden beneath piles of paper, he
passed it to the Department of Social Welfare and pleaded them to expedite her
application immediately. However, the agency never answered and only approved her
papers when she was 15. The age where they are considered too old to be adopted.
(Kaiman & De Leon, 2016)

Therefore, adoption and foster solution for the mother and child is not really that
ideal. Since, there are still millions of children in the system. Which lead to the question,
what is the certainty that the child that the mother left will be adopted immediately? And
base on the experience of Michelle and her handler, the agencies that handles this
situation is not well staffed and considered to be too forbidding to even allow children to
be adopted.

The last argument that stood out to me whenever this topic is being brought up is
that, the implementation of Abortion will encourage the people, most especially youths,
to engage in pre-marital sex and will diminish their perspective on the importance of
pregnancy, marriage, and sexual relationships.

Premarital sex is an act of engaging in a sexual relationship with others before

marriage. This is a widely accepted concept in the western countries, but in the Asian
countries. It is somehow considered a taboo and a sin. Since most Asian countries still
extremely upholds the sacredness of purity in marriage and virginity, which is heavily
influenced by their beliefs and religion. And base on the amount of Roman Catholic and
Christian here in the Philippines, many still uphold their conservative and traditional
belief on the topic, preferably of Abortion, because they believe that this will allow adults
and youths to engage in Pre-marital sex without thinking of the consequence of their
action and that they will have a permissive views on marriage and sex.

However, the permissive views of the people, especially the youths, towards Sex
or Premarital sex has nothing to do with the legalization of Abortion. The reason for it is
due to the lack of Sex-Education of the youths. Their awareness and education on what
having a sexual interaction/relationship with their partner is, its aftermath, the possible
risk etc. is certainly lacking and this should be also discussed.

The youths are engaged in premarital sex because of their lack of education
towards the issue. Teenage pregnancy is getting alarmingly high, due to teenagers
being uneducated on what sexual intercourse/relationship is and how to be protected
towards pregnancy and diseases they can possibly contract. The problem lies to the
fact that rather than treating it as a social issue that needs to be addressed by the state.
It is treated as a moral dilemma that should be solved by the religious sector of the
country and that teenagers are asked to practice Abstinence (Crisostomo, 2019). Which
is not enough, since the religious sector is heavily influenced and heavily reflected by
their respective sectors personal belief, values, and morals. Which could be opposed to
other persons belief. As a variety of people has a variety of belief and values. Therefore,
using such means to prevent teenage pregnancy is not effective. And this can be seen,
because even with the Philippines having most of its citizen being religious, the teenage
pregnancy rate still continues to rise. This just further prove that the problem lies on the
action of the state rather than the Legalization of Abortion per se.

One primary example of this kind of thinking is when Commission on Population

and Development (PopCom) urges the President of the country to declare adolescent
pregnancy as a national emergency. But cited that “moral decadence” as the top reason
for its rise. Even the Regional director Lydio Espanol Jr. thinks that it is due to
occurrence that the “contribution of religious belief to abstain from premarital sexual
activities” has dwindled over the years.

However, according to Osorio (2019) moral decadence is not the reason for
youth’s pre-marital sex activity and that Abstinence is not enough solution for the
continuous rise of the pregnancy rate. Because various study has proven that students
who were taught to abstain from sex are more likely to engage in unprotected sex as
they have an unfavorable attitude towards condoms and contraceptives, and students
who were exposed to sex-ed has a more favorable attitude towards contraceptive.
(Kempner, 2018) Therefore, the problem and solution of this issue should be Sex
Education, not the Legalization of Abortion.

In conclusion, it is not wrong in believing that abortion is not right base on one’s
belief, but this should not be the sole basis of its legality. As there are various women
who thinks differently and wishes to have a safe, clean, and supported abortion access.
And base on the study of WHO, illegalization of abortion does not prevent it from
happening, rather it encourages women to access the unsafe abortion which has/can
caused irreparable damage to health and worse, death. The implementation of abortion
should be addressed by the state and health sector only and the religious sector should
not be involved when addressing the issue, as this involves scientific and reproductive
health concerns that should not be associated with traditional and moral concerns. As
people have different ethical paradigm that has no strong basis if its good/bad or
right/wrong. Therefore, abortion should be legalized and implemented in the Philippines,
as this allows woman a better access to health care and a broader knowledge on
Reproductive Health and their Rights.

Furthermore, legalization of it will not just benefit the Women, it will also benefit
the society. As the Implementation of Abortion does not solely aim for its Legalization,
but for also to Advocate and Educate the people on various Reproductive Health
concerns that affects the society. Because I firmly believe that Implementation of this
will encourage the citizen of the country to be more open-minded to Sexual Health
concerns and to be more engaged in addressing such issues.

The Philippines, other than abortion, has a lot of Sexual Health concerns that are
still left to be addressed. With that, the state should focus on implementing laws that
involves the reproductive health concerns, of not just the women, but the entirety of the
country. And education surrounding the topic should be done first, because feeding the
curiosity of the youths and controlling their education by giving them truths and
controlling the possibility of misinformation, is one way to prevent youths in engaging in
sexual interaction and accessing false facts. Getting to the root of the problem and
bringing awareness and education to the society, is the best route the state can go for in
addressing such concerns.
References:

Aspinwall, N. (2019, May 29). Manila’s Abortion Ban Is Killing Women. FP Insider.
Retrieved from: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/29/manilas-abortion-ban-is-
killing-women/

Center for Reproductive Rights. (n.d). Facts on Abortion in the Philippines:

Criminalization and General Ban on Abortion. Retrieved from:
https://www.reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/
pub_fac_philippines_1%2010.pdf

Harvard Medical School. (2019, January). Abortion (Termination of Pregnancy).

Harvard Health Publishing. Retrieved from:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/medical-tests-and-procedures/abortion-
termination-of-pregnancy-a-to-z

Jacob, J. (2019, January 29). [OPINION] Lives in Danger: Extrajudicial killings and the
denial of abortion. Rappler. Retrieved from:
https://www.rappler.com/voices/ispeak/extrajudicial-killings-legal-abortion

World Health Organization (WHO). (n.d). Abortion. Retrieved from:

https://www.who.int/health-topics/abortion#tab=tab_1

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). (n.d), Argument against Abortion. BBC

Website. Retrieved from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/mother/against_1.shtml
Kaiman J. & De Leon S. (2016, May 28). The Philippines has 1.8 million abandoned
children. Here’s what keeps many from adoption. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved
from: https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-philippines-orphans-adv-snap-
story.html

Whitlock, J. RN, MSN, FN. (2019, November 1). Understanding the Risks Involved
When Having Surgery: No surgery is risk-free but what are the risks? Very Well
Health. Retrieved from: https://www.verywellhealth.com/understanding-the-risks-
involved-when-having-surgery-3156959

Osorio G. (2019, November 14). What’s Happening with Sex Education in the
Philippines? Modern Filipina. Retrieved from:
https://www.modernfilipina.ph/health/health-issues/sex-education-in-the-
philippines

Kempner M. (2018, February 2). This Week in Sex: We’re Still Not Surprised That
Abstinence-Only Doesn’t Work. Rewire News Group. Retrieved from:
https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2018/02/02/week-sex-still-not-surprised-
abstinence-doesnt-work/

Crisostomo S. (2019, November 10). PopCom blames moral decadence for teen
pregnancies. The Philippine Star Global. Retrieved from:
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/11/10/1967478/popcom-blames-moral-
decadence-teen-pregnancies

Stacey D. PhD, LMHC. (2020, August 24). Using Sexual Abstinence as a Birth Control
Method. Very Well Health. Retrieved from: https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-
is-abstinence-906601