PINSAN Call for Action!
Let’s talk about unsafe abortions in the Philippines
Each woman’s life is important. No woman should die because of unsafe abortion.
Three women die every day in the Philippines as a result of complications from unsafe abortion.[1] Three families lose their daughter, sister, wife or mother every day, from a totally preventable cause. Abortion is a very safe medical procedure when performed under appropriate standards. But under our country’s restrictive law, abortion is extremely unsafe, leading directly to the preventable deaths of thousands of women each year.
Each day, approximately 1,671 women in the Philippines undergo medically unsafe abortion procedures. 274 of them are hospitalized.[2]
Thirteen percent of women who have had an abortion in the Philippines cite pregnancy as a result of rape as their reason for getting an abortion. With violence against women being on the rise in the Philippines, denying victims safe-abortion services just adds to their suffering. One woman is raped every 71 minutes according to the 2014 Philippine National Police statistics.
Despite the rights guaranteed in the Philippine Constitution, the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law, Magna Carta for Women, and Prevention and Management of Abortion and its Complications Policy of the Department of Health, women all over the country are still denied services and are subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment when seeking care at health facilities. Every day, women suffer from abuse and torture.
The Philippines is one of only six countries in the world to ban abortion without clear exception. The absolute criminal ban on abortion with no clear exceptions, violates fundamental human rights, including the right to life, health, nondiscrimination, privacy, and freedom from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, as guaranteed under the Philippine Constitution.
WHY IS IT URGENT TO TALK ABOUT UNSAFE ABORTION?
One of the most common myths related to abortion is that by making it illegal, it will stop. Evidence-based studies have shown that criminalizing and/or restricting access to abortion does not reduce the number of abortions – rather, it forces women to seek out clandestine and unsafe abortions, jeopardizing their health and their lives.
In the Philippines, majority of women who make a decision of undergoing abortion are married, Catholic, and have at least 3 children.[3] They risk their health and lives by seeking clandestine, unhygienic and unsafe abortions. Women suffer psychological and social consequences when seeking post abortion care due to the stigma related to abortion. Their children are not cared for, or are at the risk to losing their mother. Their families lose significant income due to the time the women need for recovery.
UNSAFE ABORTION IS A PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN THAT REQUIRES IMMEDIATE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
JOIN US, TAKE ACTION!
Join us in promoting women and girls’ health, and ensuring full realization of their sexual and reproductive health and rights, through:
- Demystify and de-stigmatize abortion
– Talk about the realities women who suffer complications from unsafe abortion face;
– Ability to access accurate and scientific based information about abortion
– Challenge misconceptions
– Gather updated and accurate data and information about incidence and causes for abortion
– Encourage and support openly discussions about abortion.
- Decriminalize abortion
– Repeal the penal provisions penalizing women who induce abortion and those assisting them
– Demand legal accountability for abuses in the context of post-abortion care
– Ensure women receive humane, compassionate, and timely post-abortion care.
| The Philippine Safe Abortion Advocacy Network (PINSAN) is a Philippine-based network of sexual and reproductive health rights activists. PINSAN is committed to work towards achieving full realization of women and girls’ human rights. |
Women’s Stories
MYLENE’s Story
Mylene studied very hard to become a Doctor. As her family did not have the means to send her to medical school, a local politician sponsored her scholarship. And, when Mylene was twenty-six, he raped her.
Facing an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy, Mylene confided in almost no one and attempted to self-induce an abortion. A couple of weeks later she went to a public hospital complaining of abdominal pain. She died on the operating table shortly after, as a result of a severe infection.
* The name used is a pseudonym to protect the identity of the woman
**From Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban, Center for Reproductive Rights
KAYE’s Story
Kaye was twenty-one years old and four months pregnant when she induced abortion. Bleeding heavily, she became delirious and no longer fully aware of what was happening around her. Afraid for her life, her boyfriend decided to take her to the emergency room. The attending physician admonished her:
“Alam mo bang hindi pwedeng gawin yan?Kami sa OB ay hindi mamamamatay tao.Hindi ito pwedeng ginawa mo, itatawag ko to sa guard para itawag sa pulis ng Pasay.” (Don’t you know that what you did is not allowed? We, at the OB department, are not murderers. What you did cannot be tolerated, I will call the guard to inform the Pasay police.)
Kaye was on an examining table, stripped of her bottom wear, when the police officers entered the room. They took pictures and questioned her. After they left, she was refused treatment for more than 24 hours.
She finally received care but while she was still recovering, she was taken into custody and kept for two days until she was allowed to post a bail of Php 12,000.
* The name is a pseudonyms in order to protect the identity of the women
**From a focus group discussion, EnGendeRights and Center for Reproductive Rights, May 2014
ANGEL’s Story
Angel has seven children. She was on her ninth pregnancy when she decided to induce abortion because of her family’s lack of adequate financial resources to sustain their daily needs. She took certain drugs and also went to a hilot. She bled but the placenta was left inside and her blood pressure dropped. She went to a hospital and voluntarily admitted inducing abortion. She was refused of treatment.
She went to another hospital and again, admitted that she had an abortion. Then, the hospital staff, humiliated her at the Emergency Room, “Mamamatay-baby!” (Baby murderer). Then, the doctor interrogated her and scolded her, “Alam mo ba na masama ang ginawa mo? Alam mo ba na pwede kang makulong” (Don’t you know that what you did is wrong? Don’t you know that you can be sent to jail because of what you did?”). After this, she was made to wait at Operating Room for 24 hours before receiving treatment.
* The name is a pseudonyms in order to protect the identity of the women
**From a focus group discussion, EnGendeRights and Center for Reproductive Rights, May 2014
[1] Darroch JE et al., Meeting women’s contraceptive needs in the Philippines, In Brief, New York:
Guttmacher Institute (2009) No. 1.
[2] AGI, UNINTENDED PREGNANCY AND INDUCED ABORTION IN THE PHILIPPINES : CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 3 (2013),
available at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/IB-unintended-pregnancy-philippines.pdf.
[3] AGI, UNINTENDED PREGNANCY AND INDUCED ABORTION IN THE PHILIPPINES : CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES 4 (2013),
available at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/IB-unintended-pregnancy-philippines.pdf