votes on RH Bill must heed the voices of marginalized women – GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus

As Congress moves to vote on the termination of interpellations on the RH bill, Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Emmi De Jesus said that the marginalized women’s clamor for help should be heard above the din over the RH bill.

“Out of the 221 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, majority are women from the urban poor, poor farmers and workers and indigenous women. Congress should consider the unhealthy state that marginalized women are in, and be moved by their need for free, accessible, relevant, basic and immediate health services,” Rep. De Jesus asserted in a press conference together with women leaders from various urban poor communities.

In reference to specific provisions of the RH bill that perpetuate the population control agenda, the Gabriela solon added that “Poor women’s wombs should not be blamed for the worsening poverty situation in the country. Our poor women are the victims of poverty that arises primarily from inequity and the impositions of foreign big business interests in our country. They are not the ones causing poverty.”

“Even President Aquino seems to believe that women’s wombs are to be blamed for the continuing gaps in the educational system. In his SONA, he linked the increasing student population to the need to promote ‘Responsible Parenthood’. Such an irresponsible accusation that the woes of the educational system are linked to women’s sexuality must be exposed as an attempt to shirk from the administration’s mandate to address and provide for our children’s right to education,” Rep. De Jesus added.

The Gabriela solon emphasized that members of the House, especially those who are pro-RH bill, should look at the bill from the point of view of marginalized women. More than population control, the bill’s pro-poor provisions will give them accessible and free basic health services. Alalahanin natin ang ating mga kababaihan hindi lamang sa panahon ng eleksyon kundi sa lahat ng panahon dahil obligasyon natin bilang mga mambabatas na pakinggan ang kanilang boses, hindi ang boses ng sinumang sa ating palagay ay may kapangyarihang magdikta sa bilang ng botong makukuha sa eleksyon,” added De Jesus.

“Let us move towards a national policy on a genuine, pro-poor, and comprehensive reproductive health care so that women will have the basis from which to assert their right to health care,” ended De Jesus.###