No Compromise on Pro-Poor RH Provisions

Even as legislators mull a compromise in the controversial RH Bill, Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luz Ilagan today called on colleagues to help ensure that the RH Bill’s pro-poor provisions will not be sacrificed.

“We will fight tooth and nail for the provisions that will benefit marginalized women the most.”

“The RH Bill has so many provisions that will give poor women and their families respite from the high cost of medicine and healthcare. Making the delivery of reproductive health services a national policy is not only urgent but necessary at this time when more Filipino women are barely able to spend on their needs, including their health,” said Ilagan.

The Gabriela solon said that among the provisions included in the Comprehensive Reproductive Healthcare Bill filed by Gabriela Women’s Party that will benefit marginalized women are:

*Improvement and upgrade of equipment available in public health care facilities, including barangay health centers to ensure that they are able to conduct basic reproductive health care procedures such as pap smears.

*Pro-bono reproductive health care services for indigent women by making it mandatory for all health care workers to provide at least 48 hours annually of reproductive health services free of charge to indigent patients, especially pregnant adolescents.

*Paid half-day prenatal leaves for pregnant working employees for each month of the pregnancy period.

The Gabriela solon also said that even as compromises have been made in the course of the RH deliberations, Gabriela Women’s Party will continue to stress on the need to make the bill responsive to the needs of women from the grassroots.

“Reproductive healthcare services must not only be available, they must also be accessible, especially to women from the poorest communities.”