New RH bill version targets poor, ensures 'implantation' of fertilized egg

A new version of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill was introduced on Wednesday night at the House of Representatives in an effort by the chamber’s leadership to fast track the passage of the controversial measure.   During the day’s session, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said copies of the proposed substitute to House Bill 4244 will be distributed to lawmakers to give them time to scrutinize the new version of measure in the next two weeks.   “This will allow them to study the proposed substitute bill over the break. When we return after the break, the substitute bill will be subject to individual amendments,” Gonzales said in a manifestation at the plenary.   Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, primary author of the RH bill, said the new version makes sure the government will prioritize poor households in providing reproductive health care, as determined by the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction.   The declaration of policy of the new version of the RH bill states that “poor women and men in marginalized households… shall be voluntary beneficiaries of reproductive health care, services and supplies for free.”   The RH bill, one of President Benigno Aquino III’s priority legislations, promotes the use of both natural and artificial methods of family planning. It is being opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, which promotes only natural methods of family planning.   Ensuring implantation   Lagman said the substitute bill also ensures that reproductive health devices and supplies that would be distributed by the government “do not prevent implantation of a fertilized ovum.”   According to the New York University Medical Center, implantation occurs “when the embryo attaches itself to the lining of the uterus, approximately one week after ovulation.”   The RH bill author added that under the substitute bill, the Food and Drug Administration will be tasked to make sure that reproductive health services that would be provided by the government are “medically safe, legal, ethical, affordable and effective.”   Gonzales, for his part, said the proposed substitute bill was a product of consultation with stakeholders, including critics of the measure.   “We hope that for expediency and orderly procedure, this would be allowed as the substitute bill so that this could be used as the working draft, the point of reference when we move to the period of amendments,” he said. — Andreo C. Calonzo/KBK, GMA News