REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SAVES LIVES
Ten (10) Filipino women die daily due to pregnancy and childbirth-related causes. Three (3) out of four (4) of these women who die are aged 15-19 years old. The big majority of those who die are poor women.
Reproductive Health aims to save the lives of women enabling them to prevent unwanted and mistimed pregnancies by giving couples and individuals options. RH ensures that each pregnancy is safe through needed pre- and post- natal care for women.
The tragic consequences of not having comprehensive RH services including modern methods of contraception available to women are astounding: 2.4 M additional unintended pregnancies in the first year alone if these women remain unprotected; 800,000 additional clandestine abortions from the unintended pregnancies; and an additional 360,000 maternal morbidities and 3,800 maternal deaths.
RH is a pro-life choice, in the truest sense of preventing deaths and suffering.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ADDRESSES THE NEEDS AND WANTS OF FILIPINO FAMILIES
Large families tend to be poorer and find it more difficult to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty. Nine (9) in 10 Filipinos want to be able to control their fertility or plan their families.
While RH is not the ONLY solution to poverty, it only takes common sense to understand that life is more difficult for large families.
Three (3) babies are born per minute, 206 per hour and 4,947 per day, many of them born to poor families as studies say.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SUPPORTS THE PHILIPPINE DECENT WORK COMMON AGENDA
Reproductive Health can effectively contribute to the attainment of Decent Work as defined by the International Labor Organization and formulated by tripartite partners composed of trade unions, employers and government.
As one of the social protection mechanisms for the working population, it promotes workers well-being and work-life balance at the workplace.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROMOTES CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBLITY
Workers, trade unions and employers agree that reproductive health improves the sense of responsibility and ownership at the workplace as RH-related services induce substantial improvement in the overall well being of employees. It leads to economic and social bottom line benefits and lessens or eliminates costs incurred by companies from productivity loss.
As the heart of a business is the workforce, RH can help promote healthy workers and families which may translate into healthy businesses, making businesses to benefit from a workplace reproductive health program in the long term.
Reproductive Health is a concrete expression of corporate social responsibility consistent with the higher purpose of a private enterprise to create social and economic conditions that promote the welfare and development of its workers and the immediate community.
THE LABOR SECTOR’S SENTIMENTS
The labor sector is alarmed at the pace of discussions on the Reproductive Health (RH). Each day of postponement eleven Filipino women die due to pregnancy and childbirth complications,1 and every day, individuals are reported to have been infected with HIV.2
This is not consistent with the country’s commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
This is a disregard of the voice of the majority, the masses and the very people who should be served.
THE LABOR SECTOR SUPPORTS MULTI-SECTORAL EFFORTS FOR THE PASSAGE OF A NATIONAL POLICY ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AS A VEHICLE FOR SUSTAINABLE POPULATION, ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.
WE CALL ON OUR LEGISLATORS FOR THE PASSAGE OF A RIGHTS-BASED AND COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL RH POLICY NOW!
