Government-initiated Family Planning program violates women’s rights, FPOP claims

By NINFA B. QUIRANTE (PIA Samar)
December 5, 2006

CATBALOGAN, Samar  –  Would you believe that violence is perpetuated each time a woman is denied access to correct information and quality Reproductive Health (RH) services?

This was the question posed by the Family Planning Organization of the Philippines (FPOP) during the Breakfast Forum with Media Partners and RH Advocates on December 1, 2006 at Cocina de Cabral, Catbalogan, Samar.

FPOP and their RH advocates learned that the government has launched a massive campaign to promote Natural family Planning that are decried by RH NGOs as a blatant attack to the right of women to decide freely on the method of their choice.

In a press statement read by Chi Redaja of FPOP-Samar, Dr. Roberto Alcantara, National President of FPOP cited that: "The scope of the problem is so extensive and the consequences staggering to ignore".

Alcantara added that dwindling supplies of contraceptives in many LGUs have forced women to resort to drastic measures such as abortion. Besides, with close to half of the Filipino women living in poverty, many couples, it said are unable to buy contraceptives which used to be available in government clinics for free.

"Family planning remains to receive low priority among LGUS," the statement continued.

FPOP also observed that very few LGUs have really initiated steps like engaging in social marketing schemes to ensure the stable supply of contraceptives in their communities.

The FPOP supports the pronouncements through the 2003 National Health and Demographic Survey saying that the country has 17.3% unmet need (proportion of currently married women who are not using any family planning method and who do not want anymore children or preferred to space births) and found highest in Region 8, Eastern Visayas (27.8%).

Further, FPOP stressed that the most logical solution to this problem is to focus on all methods that are safe and effective instead of endorsing only natural family planning, considered to have a high rate of failure among modern methods of contraception.

With this scenario, FPOP believes that abortion will be the ultimate action any woman would take.

FPOP’s Executive Director, Atty. Rhodora Roy-Raterta confirms Alcantara’s statement by citing the Alan Guttamacher Institute findings which confirms a study of the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) that close to half a million abortions occur in the Philippines on an annual basis.

The statement added that, "As such women expose themselves to unsafe practices when they seek abortion since many are performed in clandestine settings. They can die from complications. In the same manner, women who are not able to time their pregnancies and space their children properly become susceptible to many health problems."