Optimistic of RH Law enforcement under new administration

I am so glad President Duterte announced in his very first State of the Nation Address that his administration will ensure the full enforcement of the Reproductive Health (RH) Law. We do need the provisions of the RH Law to be implemented fully. We badly need the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to implement a comprehensive sexuality education curriculum from elementary through college, especially since one out of every 10 adolescent women aged 15-19 are already mothers, and we have 25 new HIV cases a day.

Our unintended pregnancy is high with three in 10 births unwanted or mistimed, and only 38 percent of women aged 15-49 use modern contraceptives. Due to high unintended pregnancy, high incidence of rape (every 71 minutes, one woman is raped), unavailability of emergency contraception, lack of access to safe and legal abortion, and even lack of access to humane, nonjudgmental, compassionate postabortion care, we have three women dying every day due to complications caused by unsafe abortion.

That’s why we are hopeful that under President Duterte’s administration, we will have access to the full range of comprehensive methods, including emergency contraception, comprehensive sexuality education, and access to humane, nonjudgmental, and compassionate postabortion care.

—CLARA RITA “CLAIRE” A. PADILLA, executive director, EnGendeRights Inc., [email protected]