Gabriela Women’s Party claims women have repeatedly been denied access to contraceptives
Members of women's group Gabriela display placards near the presidential palace during a protest on International Women's Day in Manila on March 8, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
A Philippine women’s party has called for stricter implementation of the country's reproductive health law after it received reports that women were denied access to their chosen birth control method.
Gabriela Women’s Party, a grassroots alliance of more than 200 women’s organizations, claimed on Dec. 13 that many women have been denied contraceptive pills and condoms due to an alleged shortage at local government-run health centers.
“We have received reports that for the past five to six months, there were no deliveries to local centers, particularly in Mindanao and southern Visayas, of contraceptive pills, condoms and intrauterine devices (IUDs),” the group said in a statement.
Gabriela claimed there was a “gap” between the law and its implementation, especially in far-flung communities where women do not have money to purchase contraceptive from private pharmacies.
"Contraceptives are simply beyond our budget"
“We are making this brave call for our lawmakers to address this gap.... These contraceptives are simply beyond our budget. I have to rely on what we receive from the government and for months we have not received anything because health officials said there were no deliveries,” Gabriela member Karel Sulindang told UCA News.
The United Nations Population Fund Philippines said the denial of access to contraceptives to women — rich or poor alike — was a violation of their rights.
“The reproductive health law made it clear that women have the right to access their chosen family planning method, regardless of the belief of the person working in government health offices or organizations,” Population Fund Philippines spokeswoman Nita Dioneda told reporters on Dec. 12.
Dioneda cited reports of women in “highly” Catholic provinces who were not given IUDs despite repeated requests due to the purported Catholic beliefs of the health officer in charge of a particular province.
“We visited our local health centers here in our community but for months, we were told that IUDs were not readily available. We heard rumors that it was because of the doctor, the health officer, who is a known devout Catholic who did not support the reproductive health law,” Masbate City parishioner Cecilia Marcaida told UCA News.
Gabriela warned health officials they were obliged by law to provide artificial birth control methods to women regardless of their personal religious convictions.
“They are violating the law. Those who are supposed to implement the law are violating it if their reason for not giving contraceptives is their religious belief. Religious arguments had been heard, debated, and settled by the court,” reproductive health law advocate and lawyer Ming Estrada told UCA News.
Citing data from the National Demographic and Health Survey 2022, Gabriela said the modern contraceptive prevalence rate rose to 41.8 percent in 2022 from 40.4 percent in 2017.
"They contradict natural law"
The total fertility rate decreased to 1.9 children per woman in 2022 from 2.7 in 2017, while the unmet need for family planning also declined to 12 percent in 2022 from 17 percent in 2017, according to the Department of Health.
In a briefing on Dec. 13, health secretary, Maria Rosario Vergeire said birth control pills remain the most popular contraceptive method in the country. She added there is an increased use of implants and IUDs.
Vergeire promised the government would investigate the health centers not distributing contraceptives.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said what was legal did not “necessarily” mean it was moral.
“The Church’s stance on the use of condoms, pills, and other artificial contraceptive methods are the same. They contradict natural law which is sex is for procreation, they remain immoral in the eyes of the Church despite it being legalized in the Philippines,” said pro-life priest Father Donald Generoso, chairman of the prelates’ Commission on Family Life.
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