Makati Business Club: The Reproductive Health Bill

The Reproductive Health Bill

17 October 2008 -- At the joint general membership meeting of the Makati Business Club and Management Association of the Philippines at the Peninsula Manila, three speakers—Prof. Felipe Medalla, Atty. Ricardo Romulo, and Dr. Roberto De Vera—shared their views on House Bill 5043, or the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act. The controversial measure, popularly known as the RH bill, was first filed in 2001, but it is only in the current 14th Congress that it reached second reading in the House.

Population Growth and Poverty
Although he acknowledged that it has its flaws, Prof. Medalla stated that he fully supports the passage of HB 5043 because of its impact on the lives of poor Filipinos. While poverty incidence is less than 10% among one-child families, it is 57% among families with nine or more children, he pointed out. If the population issue is not addressed, he warned that children from poor families will be more uneducated, unhealthy, and malnourished.

Prof. Medalla believes public subsidies for family planning services, such as those provided for by the bill, is good public policy simply because it is good for the poor. Moreover, while per capita income may not necessarily rise with lower birth rates, neither will high birth rates contribute to making the country richer in per capita terms.

On the other hand, Dr. De Vera, a firm opponent of the RH bill, cited findings that there is no clear association between population growth rates and per capita income. He conceded that poverty incidence is higher among bigger families, but this doesn’t mean that family size is the cause of their hardship. Instead, he pointed to the lack of, or limited, education as the primary cause of poverty. He added that growth will be achieved and inequality reduced through good governance and sound and well-implemented economic policies.

Dr. De Vera also highlighted the fact that countries that adopted two-child or population management policies are now actually offering incentives to couples to have babies. This, according to him, is because when the fertility rate drops to 1.3 children per woman, the population decline becomes irreversible, leading to “demographic suicide.”

Impact on the Family and Society
Prof. Medalla backed the main thrust of the bill to enable “couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to carry out their decisions.” He believes that HB 5043 will help empower the poor, especially women, to implement their choices, which is of great importance given the finding that 44% of pregnancies of the poorest 10% of women of reproductive age are unwanted. The bill is correct in making artificial methods of family planning more accessible, he said, because natural methods are simply “too difficult” to follow and the failure rate too high

One of the areas Prof. Medalla disagrees with in the RH bill is the issue of sex and reproductive health education. While he supports its inclusion in the intermediate and high school curricula, he thinks it should not be mandatory. He believes parents should have the right to demand that their children be exempted from sex education classes.

Dr. De Vera sees the bill as standing on shaky social and moral grounds, believing it will discourage the free exercise of responsible parenthood and will lead to an increase in abortions and certain cancers. He cited reports that intrauterine devices (IUDs) and birth control pills are really abortifacients and that oral contraceptives increase the risk of breast and cervical cancer.

On Legislating Family Planning
Atty. Romulo, for his part, recognizes the need to adopt measures that will effectively manage the country’s population in order to achieve sustainable development. However, he is against HB 5043’s criminalization of acts that involve sensitive issues of morality and conscience.

He maintained that the reproductive health program should be implemented by persuasion and not by conviction or threats. The objectives of the bill will be realized only if the people are convinced that family planning is good. He therefore proposed the deletion of the bill’s Sections 17 (Employer’s Responsibilities) and 21 (Prohibited Acts), saying it is unwise to criminalize the acts listed in these sections as it unnecessarily infringes on a person’s right to privacy and freedom of conscience.

Prof. Medalla also opposes the imposition of prison sentences on such offenses as a health care provider’s refusal to perform ligation or vasectomy. However, he maintained that the law is needed. “Although the poor’s access to family planning services can be improved even without the law,” he explained, “the absence of the law makes it easier to block the program, which is what the Arroyo administration has been doing.”

Meanwhile, for Dr. De Vera, the family came before the state and, therefore, the state does not have dominion over the family.

The Verdict
Towards the end of the meeting, MBC and MAP members and their guests were asked to participate in an informal survey as to whether they are in favor or not in favor of the passage of HB 5043. Of the 96 persons who attended the meeting, 20 said they were in favor of the passage of the bill, 27 said they were not in favor, while 25 did not answer. Another 24 said they were in favor but subject to the proposed amendments of Atty. Romulo to delete Sections 17 and 21. Medalla's speech | Romulo's speech | De Vera's speech



ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Felipe M. Medalla
Prof. Medalla teaches at and was a former dean of the UP School of Economics. Armed with a PhD in economics from Northwestern University and an impressive background in economic research, he served as socioeconomic planning secretary and director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority from 1998 to 2001.

Ricardo j. Romulo
Atty. Romulo was chairman of the MBC from 1987 to 2006 and is still a member of the Club’s board. A Doctor of Laws degree holder from the Harvard Law School, he is a senior partner of the Romulo, Mabanta, Buenaventura, Sayoc & De Los Angeles law firm and was a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.

Roberto E. De Vera
Dr. De Vera is the director of the Urban Strategies Group of the University of Asia and the Pacific’s School of Economics. He is also director of the MS Industrial Economics Program and an assistant professor of the UA&P. He earned his PhD in economics from the University of Pittsburgh.