Gabriela hits Pines City College mandatory pregnancy tests

Gabriela Women's Party on Tuesday denounced the mandatory pregnancy test supposedly being imposed in a school in Baguio City on its female students.

"This policy is discriminatory against women, violates the Magna Carta of Women, and perpetuates an old view and stigma that pregnancy is socially unacceptable and against the norm," party-list Representatives Emmi De Jesus and Arlene Brosas said in a statement.

A letter from the Pines City Colleges school physician, which made rounds on social media, stated that the mandatory pregnancy test is being conducted in the school's "pursuit for education and social responsibility."

Female students from the Colleges of Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing are mandated to undergo the pregnancy test, the letter stated, whose payment will be added to the students school fees.

But for the Gabriela Women's Party representatives, such policy only puts pressure to female students who will be subjected to mandatory pregnancy test.

"This creates undue pressure and lays unreasonable blame to pregnant female students, as they will be sanctioned with dropping of the subjects and one-year delay," De Jesus and Brosas said.

"This policy glosses over the reality that women, especially female students, are vulnerable victims in a patriarchial society, and that unplanned pregnancy is never their fault," they added.

The Gabriela Women's Party representatives said they will formally write to Pines City Colleges to express their opposition regarding the policy. —NB, GMA News