Editorial: Reproductive rights revisited

Thursday, February 23, 2012

IT IS not often that our country is used as an example in a high-profile policy debate in the United States. But a time.com article, “When a Country Cracks Down on Contraception: Grim Lessons from the Philippines” posted on Feb. 21, 2012 (Feb. 22 in the Philippines) did just that, although in a negative sense.

The US is well into the preparatory stage of its election, when presidential hopefuls battle it out to get the nod of their political parties. In the thick of the fight for Republican party nomination is Rick Santorum, a Catholic with conservative views on “faith, family and fundamental rights.”

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Santorum, like the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), is against abortion and “personally” opposes birth control.

“Poll data suggest that when it comes to contraception,” the time.com article noted, “Santorum is out of step with his would-be constituents; the vast majority of Americans, including Catholics, do not oppose birth control. Many do, however, back his ultra-conservative stance on abortion, making this a good time to reflect on what the US can learn from the global campaign for reproductive rights.”

That’s when the case of the Philippines was mentioned: “Over the past few decades, as most of the world has embraced family planning, the majority-Catholic nation has waged war on reproductive rights. There, abortion is strictly prohibited and crackdowns on contraception are common.”

The Philippines is not the US, the article noted, but it “offers a striking example of how a restrictive approach to reproductive rights can-—and has-—hurt women.” It then ticked off disturbing information:

“The country’s high unmet need for contraception means that almost half of pregnancies are unwanted and about 500,000 per year result in abortion. All too often, these procedures are unsafe. Every year, an estimated 60,000 Filipinas are injured trying to terminate a pregnancy. About 1,000 die from abortion-related complications.”

The article, of course, views the issue from the perspective of US society and culture. But it shows that the same arguments divide the pros and the antis in the reproductive rights debate, and that the situation in the Philippines can be a good case study on the effects of a “restrictive approach to reproductive rights.”