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As of May 11, there are 46 individuals and organizations that signed on a statement expressing concern over the preventable maternal deaths that reflects how the government’s Covid-19 response has overlooked the availability and accessibility of quality life-saving reproductive health services. The statement calls on for clear mechanisms to ensure availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of sexual and reproductive health information and services.

We, as community and civil society organizations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, strongly urge the Philippine government to ensure the availability and equitable access of essential sexual and reproductive health services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the pandemic, it was estimated that 2,400 women and girls die every year in the Philippines from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. There is a high probability that these preventable deaths would only increase with diminished health system resources, lack of immediate access to accurate reproductive health information and services, inadequate transportation facilities, and decreased or total loss of income and employment opportunities in a COVID-19 response that fails to take into account the specific needs of women’s reproductive health and rights.

If you are an artist residing in Metro Manila, who has passion for women’s health and rights, we need you!

Women’s access to essential SRHR information and services remains critical in responding to COVID-19 This May 28,  join women’s rights activists around the world in calling on governments and the international community to ensure a rights-based, just, and sustainable approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. Women’s access to essential Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) […]

La pandémie de coronavirus nous montre une fois de plus que la préparation, l’atténuation et la réponse aux crises sanitaires consistent inévitablement à examiner et à supprimer les inégalités dans notre société. Combien flagrant est le fait que, même si c’est aussi simple que le lavage des mains, cela peut aider à arrêter la propagation des infections, 40% de la population mondiale ne dispose toujours pas d’installations adéquates pour se laver les mains avec de l’eau et du savon à la maison.

The coronavirus pandemic is only showing us once again that preparing, mitigating, and responding to health crises is inevitably about examining and abolishing the inequalities in our society. How glaring is the fact that while it is as simple as handwashing that can help stop the spread of the infections, 40% of the world’s population still do not have adequate handwashing facilities with water and soap at home? As we tightly hold on to our hopes for the end of this crisis, we remain steadfast in our solidarity so that we don’t go back to ‘normal,’ but rather come out of this with a better and just world.

This submission was prepared by a coalition of civil society groups working in the Philippines to contribute to the upcoming report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the situation of human rights in the Philippines as requested by the Human Rights Council (the Council) in its Resolution 41/2 adopted on 11 July 2019 on the promotion and protection of human rights in the country. We would like to direct the attention of the OHCHR to grave violations of fundamental human rights resulting from one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world which causes preventable deaths and injuries among women and girls who are unable to access safe and legal abortion services.