RH bill

Gabriela Women’s Party Representatives Luz Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus expressed today their disappointment at the direction that deliberations on the Reproductive Health Bill are taking.

“We are wary that a population control measure is in the works. The discussions and debates on the Reproductive Health Bill are focusing less on ensuring the women and children’s access to free healthcare services and more on meeting demographic targets and ensuring women’s access to contraceptives rather than their full access to basic healthcare services,” said Rep. Luz Ilagan.  read more »

"The problem with the RH bill is that many house members are more concerned with the Catholic vote than the welfare of the women and children. As both the House of Representatives and the Senate hold the bill hostage, we continue to endanger the lives of marginalized women and children who cannot afford the spiraling prices of health care.  read more »

“If these big businesses genuinely supports the reproductive rights of poor women, they should primarily push for increased health budget to build more health facilities to make health services accessible specially to women in far-flung areas, and to hire more doctors and health workers to better serve the poor, instead of pushing for the government’s population control program,” said GWP Rep.  read more »

“The approval of HB 6455 foretells the exacerbation of the Philippine health care system as the Aquino intends to spend no more than P1.10 per Filipino each day for health care services in 2013. Children are dying of easily preventable and curable illnesses like tuberculosis, bronchitis, pneumonia, dengue and diarrhea. Worse maternal mortality rate has increased from 162 for every 100,000 live births in 2006 to 221 in 2010 even as the continually increasing Conditional Cash Transfer budget supposedly aims to reduce maternal mortality,” declared Rep.  read more »

Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luz Ilagan today criticized the 2013 national budget’s measly and misappropriated allocation for healthcare that fails to respond to the people’s needs. According to Ilagan, the Aquino Health Agenda as reflected in the proposed 2013 budget refuses to acknowledge the need to build and upgrade healthcare facilities and instead supports private and multinational intrusion into the delivery of healthcare services.  read more »

“Gabriela Women’s Party stands in support of the members of the Ateneo de Manila University faculty now being unjustly persecuted for their expression of support for the Reproductive Health bill.”

Thus Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luz Ilagan, one of the authors of the Reproductive Health Bill as the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines sought to investigate 160 faculty members of the Ateneo de Manila who earlier signed a petition for the urgent passage of the RH bill. “It is but their right to give their stand on a very important issue.”  read more »