RP senator proposes bill on abortion

RP senator proposes bill on abortion

By Adam Easton

MANILA: Women in the Philippines who have abortions and the doctors performing them will face the death penalty if congress approves a bill being supported by the government.

Senator Ramon Revilla, a former actor, proposed the bill after reading newspaper reports of fetuses being dumped on the streets in rural provinces.

The bill, which defines abortion as a "heinous" crime on a par with murder or rape, has been backed by the health minister. The United Nations has described the Philippines, which is staunchly Roman Catholic, as already having "the most severe abortion laws in the world".

A fetus' right to life is enshrined in the 1987 constitution and under the existing revised penal code abortion is illegal except in circumstances where the mother's health is at risk. Offenders risk a minimum of six months and a maximum of six years in jail.

But Revilla says these penalties have become "outmoded by the changing times, what with the dynamic growth of society and the ultra-liberal policies brought about by the influential Western culture".

If the bill passes through both houses, the maximum penalty for women who have abortions would be life imprisonment or death. Physicians performing the operations would face the same penalty.

The health minister, Carmencita Reodica, said: "We support the bill and we fully agree that abortion is a heinous crime."

The Philippines' Protestant president, Fidel Ramos, has been pursuing a population control program since 1992.

The Catholic Church has opposed the program. Earlier this year Manila's archbishop, Cardinal Sin, said condoms were "only fit for animals" and prominent members of the Church boycotted the international AIDS conference in Manila last month because free condoms were issued to delegates.

The Church, while not sanctioning the use of the death penalty, favors strict abortion legislation.

The health department estimates that 17 percent of women in Manila have had at least one abortion. Treatment of post-abortion complications ranks as the top reason for admission to hospital. Revilla's office said the bill could pass through congress within two years.

But the executive director of the Women's Legal Bureau, Evalyn Ursua, criticized it as severely discriminatory.

"This bill can only have been proposed by a man and a very ignorant one at that," she said.

Dr Wilbert Eleria, of the health department, said the government was trying to strengthen the family planning program and wanted every local health center to carry a six-month contraceptive supply for each family.

-- The Guardian News Service