Lawmaker: RH provisions already in Magna Carta for women

THERE is no more need for a new law on reproductive health (RH) since most of the bill provisions are already embedded in the Magna Carta for Women passed by the 14th Congress, said a lawmaker.

Mitos Magsaysay, representative of the first district of Zambales, said the existing RH provisions in the law need only to be implemented comprehensively by the government and institutions tasked for the propagation of RH and responsible parenthood.

Magsaysay said on Friday that she is against the pending RH bill that needs further amendments on 19 controversial provisions. She admitted that majority in Congress are not really keen on passing the RH bill this year.

She said, meanwhile, that the final Magna Carta for Women deleted the funding for the purchase of condoms and contraceptives as the pills are arbortifacients that ensure abortions on women of reproductive age.

She said she just wanted to bring her advocacies on free health services, which she already started in her own congressional district.

With her yearly priority development assistant development fund, Magsaysay said she was able to fund the medical check-up for all citizens of her district, free medicines, dental care, circumcision, pap-smear, cataract operation and rug test for drivers on top of barangay projects, scholarship program and infrastructures. (LCP)