2 RH authors want population control provisions scrapped

Two authors of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) bill at the House of Representatives on Tuesday appealed to their colleagues to scrap three population control provisions in the measure. Gabriela Women’s party-list Reps. Emerenciana de Jesus and Luzviminda Ilagan said these three portions of House Bill 4244 or the consolidated RH bill may “release the floodgate[s] for the State to carry out its population control program under the guise of pro-choice and poverty alleviation." “Ang kahirapan ng bansa ay hindi dahil sa paglobo ng populasyon kundi dahil sa hindi pagkakapantay-pantay at korupsyon. Ito ay health issue at hindi population issue. Ito ay usaping kalusugan," Ilagan said in a press briefing Tuesday. The party-list representatives particularly want Section 3 (L) or the guiding principle deleted stating that “gender equality and women empowerment are central elements of reproductive health and population and development." They also want to scrap Section 12 or the provision on the integration of family planning and responsible parenthood component in the country’s anti-poverty programs. The women lawmakers also warned of naming the supposedly “notorious" Population Commission as a coordinating body once the bill is enacted into law, as stated in Section 25 of HB 4244. “These provisions must be deleted in the RH bill. Otherwise, the long saga of blaming the population, specifically women’s wombs, for the rising poverty in the country continues," they said in a separate statement. Other authors of the RH bill earlier agreed to drop a provision in the bill prescribing two children as the “ideal family size" for the country. — ELR/VS, GMA News