Gabriela: ‘No home birth’ policy a burden on women

Gabriela Women's Partylist hit the no-home birth policy enforced in some parts of the country, saying that it exacerbated the burden on pregnant women, some of whom have their reasons for not wanting to give birth in a health facility.

According to Lilian Tiburcio's "Stand for Truth" report, a 2017 study found that among women who do not want to give birth in a health facility, 32% percent said it was too far or they had no transportation; 25% said it would cost too much; and 22% felt it was "not necessary."

Gabriela Partylist chairperson Gert Libang lamented that the policy is hurting families who do not have the capacity to avail of hospital care.

"Dapat ang babae ay mabigyan siya ng choice, mapaliwanagan siya ano ba yung choices niya pagdating sa panganganak," Libang said.

[Women must be given the choice, and should know her choices when it comes to childbirth.]

In Quezon City, an ordinance was passed in 2012 that prohibits home birth and allows only professional health workers to deliver babies.

Dr. Rochelle Paulino of the city's health department's maternal health coordinator said they are not denying women their rights, but stressed that facility-based delivery is encouraged because it will make sure that the mother and the baby are safe.

"No mother should die during delivery," she said.

However, facility-based delivery has also become a difficult option for women amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Joyce," who is expected to give birth in September, said she has still not made a decision about whether to give birth at home or at a health facility. She said she is scared that she might get infected if she goes to a hospital.

Jamie Gumanit, who gave birth to her child in August 2020, shared that she tested positive for COVID-19 at the lying-in clinic where she was supposed to deliver her baby.

While in labor, she got another test at a hospital, which confirmed the positive COVID-19 result. But she was worried about staying at the hospital, where she knew no one. So she and her husband decided to return to the lying-in clinic, where the midwife helped deliver Gumanit's baby inside their vehicle.

Gumanit endured the pain of the delivery but said she was lucky that her baby tested negative for the disease. — Consuelo Marquez/BM, GMA News