NEWS
CASE CHALLENGING MANILA CONTRACEPTION BAN DISMISSED
August 15, 2008 -- The Philippines Court of Appeals has dismissed a constitutional challenge to an eight-year-old ban on the distribution and use of modern contraceptives in the city of Manila. The case, Osil v. Office of the Mayor of the City of Manila, argues that this ideologically driven policy amounts to a violation of the fundamental human rights of the city’s residents as protected under the Philippines Constitution and international law. Since being implemented in 2000, the ban has endangered women's health, strained personal relationships, and driven already struggling families deeper into poverty.
Despite the gravity of this situation, in April 2008 the Court of Appeals dismissed the case on procedural grounds that, according to legal experts in the Philippines, are flawed. First, it cited the absence of "tax declarations" from the petitioners as a means of proving that they are indeed indigents. Second, the court stated that the case should have been filed before the Regional Trial Court of Manila, a body with concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Appeals. The court also ignored a request to put the ban on hold while the case is being decided. A motion for reconsideration before the Court of Appeals, filed in May 2008, is still pending.
The court's refusal to consider the legal claims made in this case raises serious doubts about the independence of the judiciary and the ability of women to obtain justice in the Philippines. The government of the Philippines has a legal obligation to protect the right of women to control their fertility by ensuring access to a full range of family planning services, including natural and modern contraceptive methods, and the judiciary has a specific obligation to ensure that local and national laws and policies are consistent with international law.
"This decision has left women with no other means of redress. Women, particularly poor women, will continue to disproportionately bear the burden of this ban. We hope that the Court of Appeals will reconsider its initial dismissal and decide in favor of women’s human rights," said Melissa Upreti, the Center’s legal adviser for Asia.
Click here to read the Center’s press release about the case > >
Click here to read Imposing Misery: The Impact of Manila's Contraception Ban on Women and Families> >
BANNING CONTRACEPTION IN THE PHILIPPINES
December 11, 2006 -- In the Philippines, the government is currently reviewing a bill that seeks to impose penalties for the production, selling, and distribution of so-called abortifacients. In its definition of "abortive" drugs and devices, the bill includes oral contraceptives, emergency contraception, injectables, and IUDs, banning these commonly used forms of contraception.
In response to this alarming proposal, the Center submitted a letter in December to the committee responsible for reviewing the bill, stating that the bill’s characterization of commonly used contraceptives as "abortive" drugs and devices has no scientific or legal basis. Our letter further argues that restricting access to the full range of contraceptive methods violates women’s basic human rights. The letter cites international treaties, concluding observations from UN treaty monitoring bodies, and the recent decision by Colombia’s Constitutional Court on abortion. While the passage of the bill does not seem imminent at this point, the Center’s analysis provides an important human rights perspective against a reprehensible proposal which, if it were to become a reality, would be devastating to women's reproductive rights in the Philippines and would set an awful precedent in the current context of growing fundamentalism against women's reproductive and sexual rights.
CENTER SHADOW LETTER ON PHILIPPINES SEES RESULTS AT UN
September 2006 -- The Center for Reproductive Rights submitted a shadow letter to the 36th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women highlighting violations of reproductive and sexual rights of women in the Philippines. A delegation from the government of the Philippines reported to the Committee on governmental efforts to fulfill treaty obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a key UN treaty established to further women’s right to nondiscrimination and gender equality. The Committee has since released its Concluding Observations, calling attention to several concerns the Center raised in its shadow letter.
The Center, in collaboration with NGO partners EnGendeRights, Reproductive Rights Resource Group-Philippines (3RG-Phils), and Health Development Initiatives Institute, prepared a shadow letter detailing numerous violations of the Convention resulting from arbitrary restrictions on modern methods of contraception including emergency contraceptive pills; criminal abortion laws; and abuses in post-abortion care facilities. One of the direst consequences of the government’s failure to respect reproductive rights is the country’s high rate of maternal mortality. In its Concluding Observations, the Committee urged the State party to take concrete measures to improve women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services, in accordance with the Convention. Specifically, the Committee called on the Philippines government to make contraceptives more available and affordable and to provide comprehensive sex education to adolescents. The Committee recommended that the government consider removing provisions in abortion laws that punish women and instead provide access to quality services to reduce maternal mortality rates.
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Imposing Misery: The Impact of Manila's Contraception Ban on Women and Families
Likhaan, ReproCen, and the Center for Reproductive Rights have released a report documenting the devastating impact of Manila’s contraception ban on women and their families. In 2000, the mayor of Manila, Jose "Lito" Atienza, issued an Executive Order (EO) "upholding natural family planning" and "discouraging the use of artificial methods of contraception like condoms, pills, intrauterine devices, surgical sterilization, and other [methods]." This sweeping EO, in effect, bans city health centers and hospitals from providing contraception to women in need of this essential reproductive health care service. Poor women are suffering the most under this ban.
The report, Imposing Misery: The Impact of Manila’s Contraception Ban on Women and Families, is based on a series of compelling interviews with women affected by the EO, government and health officials, and nongovernmental organizations. Its conclusions are clear: the EO harms the lives and health of women, as well as their families, by depriving them of the basic human right to make decisions about their own bodies and whether and when to have children. Further, the report establishes that the EO violates national and international law.
This report alerts the Manila City and national government to the violations resulting from the EO and issues recommendations to nullify the policy. Likhaan, ReproCen, and the Center for Reproductive Rights are working to ensure that Manila residents have easy and affordable access to a full range of family planning options, in accordance with the Philippines’ obligations under constitutional, national, and international law. In addition, these three organizations have called on the new mayor, Alfredo S. Lim, who took office this July, to revoke the ban.
Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia
Learn more by reading the Philippines chapter (PDF) of Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia > >
Our Women of the World reports document laws and policies which impact women’s reproductive and sexual health and shape their reproductive choices. Reproductive rights are internationally recognized as critical to both advancing women's human rights and promoting development. In recent years, governments worldwide have acknowledged and pledged to advance reproductive rights to an unprecedented degree. Formal laws and policies are crucial indicators of government commitment to promoting reproductive rights.
The Women of the World reports are the product of collaboration between the Center for Reproductive Rights and NGOs around the world. Each volume presents regional and national information about the following:
- Laws and policies regarding health, population, contraception, abortion, sterilization, safe pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections;
- Women's legal status within marriage, including divorce, custody and property; labor rights; access to credit and education; and the right to physical integrity;
- Reproductive health and rights of adolescents, including the legal status of adolescent marriage, sex education, and sexual offenses against minors;
- Customary and religious laws and practices that influence the status of women and girls.
The reports show that although governments have adopted laws and policies to promote women's reproductive health and rights, such instruments have not always had the desired effect. In fact, oftentimes, the problem lies with the law or policy itself. The reproductive rights of women in the region continue to be violated with impunity due to the lack of enforcement of potentially beneficial laws and the lack of accountability for governmental failure to remove barriers to health care and to end gender-based discrimination.
Briefing Papers
Reporting to Treaty Monitoring Bodies
Organizations like the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners play an essential role in providing credible and reliable independent information to international human rights treaty monitoring bodies regarding the legal status and real-life situation of women and the efforts being made by governments to comply with human rights treaties. Shadow reports work to supplement, or "shadow," governments' reports on human rights issues by calling attention to their strides, as well as their setbacks.
Regional Partner Organizations
