Our recent Debate has opened a new door for me to see the world from a different

perspective. I have been thinking about this since I started researching articles for the
debate, and it helped me understand both sides. As a religious man myself, I have
always believed that abortion is a sin against God because it is murder as I believe that
life starts at conception. But as I started reading more into the topic of abortion, I
realized that there are many other reasons why other countries and people are in favor
of legalizing abortion or why their countries have legalized abortion. As a reason for the
Pro-Choice belief that a fetus is not considered human, a woman should be able to
choose whether she wants her baby or not, or if it concerns the health and the economic
status of the mother.

Pro-Choice also argues that “Abortion” is extremely common that a quarter of

pregnancies end in abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive
health non-profit based in the United States, the abortion rate is 37 per 1,000 people in
countries that prohibit abortion entirely or allow it only in cases where it is necessary to
save a woman's life, and 34 per 1,000 people in countries that broadly allow abortion, a
statistically insignificant difference. As I read this specific article, I was flabbergasted by
the rate of abortion in the countries that have legalized abortion and the countries that
prohibit abortion the difference is getting an abortion in the countries that prohibits
abortion is much less safe than the countries that legalize abortion.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines unsafe abortion as a procedure

for terminating an unintended pregnancy performed by people who lack the necessary
skills or in an environment that does not meet minimum medical standards or both.
They estimate that 25 million unsafe abortions occur each year, with the vast majority
taking place in developing countries. In contrast to a legal abortion performed by a
trained medical provider, unsafe abortions can be fatal. According to the WHO, unsafe
abortions are the third leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide and cause an
additional five million largely preventable disabilities.

As a staunch supporter of Pro-Life, I am deeply saddened that women more

importantly marginalized and impoverished women from developing countries such as
the Philippines must go through so much hardship and danger to get an unsafe and
illegal abortion that if there are complications you cannot go to a hospital for treatment
as you can face imprisonment here in the Philippines. Every year, approximately 1,000
people die as a result of abortion complications, contributing to the country's high
maternal mortality rate. Every year, tens of thousands of women are hospitalized as a
result of complications from unsafe abortions.
 As a Pro-Life supporter, I am glad that there are solutions that the government
has enacted to lessen the mortality rate of women dying from unsafe abortions. The
Philippines passed the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012,
also known as the RH Law, which guarantees universal and free access to nearly all
modern contraceptives at government health centers for all citizens, including
impoverished communities. In addition, the law requires reproductive health education
in public schools and recognizes a woman's right to post-abortion care as part of the
right to reproductive healthcare. While a liberal interpretation of the law could exempt
abortion provision from criminal liability when done to save the woman's life, no such
explicit provisions exist. Abortion is a criminal offense under the Penal Code,
punishable by up to six years in prison for doctors and midwives who perform abortions
and 2 to 6 years in prison for women who undergo the procedure for any reason. A
separate set of laws, known as the Midwifery Act, the Medical Act, and the
Pharmaceutical Act, allow for the revocation or suspension of any practitioner who
performs abortions or provides abortifacients.

The Catholic Church before the passing of the RH Law, are one of the staunchest
oppositions of the RH Law, even today modern contraceptives are highly stigmatized by
the Catholic Church that 10 years after the RH Law passed the use of Modern
Contraceptives is only starting to pick up. The Commission on Population and
Development (PopCom) reported in April 2021 that more than 8 million Filipinos used
family planning methods. That is a far cry from the 34,307,629 males and 34,299,766
females between 15 and 64 years old that are using modern contraceptives.

As a Pro-Life supporter, having a debate has changed my view entirely on this

topic I am still against Abortion but I do agree that there are instances that can only be
solved by aborting the fetus and one of them is if the life of the mother will be
jeopardized if she tries to carry the baby to term, While a liberal interpretation of the
law could exempt abortion from criminal liability when done to save the woman's life,
there must still be an explicit provision of law that absolving the mother and the doctor
that will perform the abortion from criminal liability.