Bases of Legalizing Abortion in the Philippines

Christian Mark T. Denoy

Andrea A. Alonzo

June 18, 2021

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Abstract

This research report is all about the Bases of Legalizing Abortion, the meaning of
Abortion, and why we should implement Abortion for women’s equality in the
Philippines. Our country, the Philippines, is one of the Christian or catholic countries in
the world where some of our laws are based on what the Bible states. Part of this is also
why divorced and same sex marriage is never legalized here in the Philippines. Many
females in our country risk their lives by entrusting the quacks or even themselves by
doing the unsafe procedures to abort the babies they never want to bring in this cruel
world. Mostly, the main reason of females why they want abortion is that they are sexual
harassed, physical and mentally molested, incest, or due to various medical issues that
could endanger the infants and their lives such as STD, AIDS, heart conditions, and
many more.

Our country has an undeniable deficit of sex education, which is essential for
everyone, especially teenagers, to acquire correct understanding in this subject.
Women who were sexually abused are undergoing traumatic experiences and bringing
a child they didn’t want can be detrimental for them. The hypocrisy of compelling
women to have children they do not want is ludicrous, particularly for those who impose
these regulations while failing to enforce them after the child is born. Keeping abortion
illegal does not prevent it from occurring; rather, it forces women to undertake risky,
lethal treatments.
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Introduction

According to (U.S National Library of Medicine, 2016) “An abortion is a procedure to

end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and
placenta from the uterus. The procedure is done by a licensed healthcare professional.
The decision to end a pregnancy is very personal. If you are thinking of having an
abortion, most health care providers advise counseling.” Abortion can be carried out
with a safe method. Despite this topic being controversial the Philippine restrictive legal
landscape on abortion continues to impede the country’s progress towards achieving
sustainable development and equality on women’s rights. Women who experienced
sexual assault, incest, and rape are the one who will have the benefits of abortion.
Pregnancy for women is a serious matter and some of them experienced the dark side
of this world: those teenagers, adolescent women, and unfortunately a child whose age
is between 9-13 years old is also a victim of this draconian society. With all these
knowledges, this research report aims to address the following:

● What are the bases of legalizing abortion in the Philippines?

● How abortion could be identified in terms of the following:
A. types
B. safety procedures
C. effects
● What are the Philippine data of women who got pregnant due to sexual
harassment, rape, non-consensual sexual intercourse in the past ten years?

The significance of legalizing abortion in the Philippines is to provide an equal treatment

and rights to every woman respecting, protecting, and fulfilling their access to
reproductive rights and for the sake of the child that the mother carried. Recognize that
reproductive rights are part of ensuring a country’s development including the
population. Abortion should be legalized in the Philippines so that women who are
incapable of bearing child due to medical history condition, suffered from abuse,
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harassment, rape, incest, and non-consensual intercourse could start a new life without
judgement from other people.

Discussion

Abortion does not expressly refer or prohibited by the Philippine Constitution. It

probably will allow abortion if relied in certain circumstances, such as including every
woman’s life or physical or mental health and girls at risk who must validate their
condition regardless of medical history. Moreover, as abortion become illegal and
restricted, women are forced to undergo unsafe procedure that can take pose a
significant risk and threat to their health and lives.

According to Center of Reproductive Rights “The probability of bases of Filipino

women seeks abortion services are: 72% women are unable to afford the economic
cost of raising a child. 57% of pregnancies occurred too soon after their last one. 54% is
the number of existing children. 32% of husbands, partners, or relatives did not want the
pregnancy. 31% of women's pregnancy would damage their health. 13% pregnancy
resulted from forced sex.”
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Types of Abortion

Attia@Plant Parenthood (2019) stated that there are two types of abortion: “In-Clinic
abortion that has to be undergo in a safety procedure such as operation by a medical
doctor and the next one Medication abortion that consist of two different medicines
called mifepristone and misoprostol to end a pregnancy”.

Safety procedures

“An abortion pill can only be taken up to 10 weeks after the first day of your last period.
However, if past 10 weeks, In-clinic abortion will do. Your doctor and nurses will guide
you and give you detailed safety procedures. A surgical abortion also called as a In-
clinic abortion is medical procedure that works by using suction to empty a uterus”.
(Attia@Plant Parenthood, 2019)

Effects of Abortion

As Abortion in the Philippines continues to legal restrictive, women choose to undergo

with Illegal and unsafe abortions whereas it can cause risk to their lives and health
reproductive system. As (FOUNDATION OF LIFE, 2020) said “Side effects may occur
with induced abortion, whether surgical or by pill. These include abdominal pain and
cramping, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Abortion also carries the risk of significant
complications such as bleeding, infection, and damage to organs. Access to legal, safe
and comprehensive abortion care, including post-abortion care, is essential for the
attainment of the highest possible level of sexual and reproductive health.” 

According to CAMELEON “More than 70% of sexually abused children are between
10 and 18 years old. Approximately, 20% are under 6 years old. Cases of sexual abuse
in child are one of the most common issues that (DSWD) must handle. Despite having
the Anti-rape Law of 1997 rape remains the most frequent type of sexual abuse,
followed by incest and fondling. 98% of rape victims are women while incest alarming
data is 33%”. Moreover, the news report from INQUIRER NET (Gabriel Pabico Lalu,
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2020) “last 2014 they’ve gathered a data of 2,250 of women between 10 to 14 years old
got pregnant, Their partners were somehow older than them meanwhile, 151,000 of
women whose age at 15 to 20 years old gave birth yet still 100,000 are older than their
partner”. In the other news article from Ana P. Santos (Nov. 11,2019) “in the year 2010
over 200,000 babies are born to teenage girls and this happens each year
approximately 2,000 girls between 10 and14 years old become pregnant.
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Conclusion

Abortion has been a controversial issue in our country whereas, women cannot take
this because they look at it as illegal and murder. This research paper contains the
essence and significance of abortion for adolescent and women whom experienced
sexual harassment, abuse, and rape they unfortunately somehow got pregnant. Every
woman has the right to decide what they want for their life. They are freely and
responsible to decide without experiencing any discrimination. Access to legal, safe,
and complete abortion treatment, including post-abortion care, is critical for sexual and
reproductive health. Abortions are safe when performed using a WHO-recommended
procedure that is appropriate for the pregnancy length and when the individual
performing the abortion possesses the relevant expertise. Medical abortion or a simple
outpatient procedure can be used to perform such abortions.

Abortion in our country is illegal for some reason such as the importance of lives of
every foetation in thy womb while we don’t think how both mother and children suffer for
a long period of time because of what misfortune machinations she had. We should
legalize abortion in our democratic country, why? Having a child is a serious matter and
must implement a family planning and not everyone has an access with sex education.
Those teenagers and adults’ women including the victims can take an abortion if they
want too. Raising a child will consume their lifetime, some of them want to pursue their
future, not financially stable because they’re teenagers and in a probationary period of
succeeding their goals. If you want a child to prevent from suffering abortion must
prevail for them. Women who took an abortion shouldn’t be abhorrent or blatantly
discriminate for what machinations they’ve done it’s not shameless at all…their body,
their rules. They can be better in the future and have a better status in life. Do not
romanticize women to become a mother; women do not exist to give birth.
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References

Attia @Planned Parenthood (2019). Planned Parenthood, What are the different types
of abortion?

https://foundationsoflife.org/facts-about-abortion/risks-about-abortion/?
fbclid=IwAR3JHBj7QSnWkXkEX5AoNg7kl0KqT2e8wwZS7-
7OMag6nS2bRVwLNRwSevw

https://medlineplus.gov/abortion.html#:~:text=An%20abortion%20is%20a
%20procedure,a%20licensed%20health%20care%20professional.

https://reproductiverights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2018-philippines-abortion-
legislative-brief.pdf

https://www.cameleon-association.org/contexte-aux-philippines/?lang=en

https://www.who.int/health-topics/abortion#tab=tab_1

Klick, Jonathan (2003). The Journal of Legal, The Effect of Abortion Legalization on
Sexual Behavior: Evidence from Sexually Transmitted Diseases, pp. 407-433

Lalu, Gabriel P. (2020). Inquirer.net, Sexual Abuse: the darker side of teenage
pregancies.

Morin-Gonthier M (Med. 1984) J Reprod Med, The Significance of Pregnancy among

Adolescents Choosing Abortion as Compared to those Continuing Pregnancy.

Santos, Ana P. (2019). Rappler, [OPINION | Dash of SAS] Rape, incest and inequality-
the other reasons for teen pregnancies.

Stratman, Thomas. (2003). The Journal of Legal, The Effect of Abortion Legalization on
Sexual Behavior: Evidence from Sexually Transmitted Diseases, pp. 407-433
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