The RH Law is vital to climate-change adaptation, advocates say

Reproductive health advocates have again urged the Supreme Court to lift its restraining order on the controversial Reproductive Health Law.

They said the RH Law is even more necessary in times of calamity.

 

“The Reproductive Health Law is not just about pills and condoms or sex and religion. This multi-faceted policy relates to disaster and climate change.”

 

Former Albay representative Edcel Lagman, the law’s stalwart advocate and author, said at the “Sa Panahon ng Delubyo, nasaan ang RH Law?” forum last Thursday.

 

“RH Law is also a calamity risk reduction policy, and population and calamities are fatal partners,” he noted. “We hope that the Supreme Court will heed the warning of nature.”

 

Although the law is not meant as a population control measure, it may "incidentally" reduce population, which may decrease peoples’ vulnerability to climate change, he said. 

 

President Benigno Aquino III signed the RH Law, Republic Act No. 10354, last December after the proposal spent 14 years going through the legislative mill.

It was counted as a success for both the Aquino administration and RH advocates. However, the celebration was short-lived because the Supreme Court blocked its implementation over questions on the law's constitutionality.

The High Court's order is still in effect today.

 

The World Health Organization, in its discussion paper “Mainstreaming gender in health adaptation to climate change programmes” could not agree more with Lagman.

 

It noted that RH services are vital to climate change adaptation especially in developing countries faced with overpopulation.

 

“Another factor that can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions is overpopulation, which is mainly present in developing countries. In this sense, the reproductive role of women can play an important role in climate change mitigation and adaptation, highlighting family planning and improved access to reproductive health service as key aspects,” it explained. 

 

Under-reported post-disaster needs

 

Ernesto Pernia, a professor at the University of the Philippines-School of Economics who was also at the forum , said women's reproductive health needs and gender-based violence are usually under-reported after disasters struck.

Some usual forms of gender-based violence against women include sexual violence, rape and trafficking. 

 

“In the nature of things, whatever is reported is usually just the ‘tip of the iceberg. Rapid assessment exercises are usually unable to capture the reality on the ground,” said Pernia, who is also the vice president of the Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc.

 

 

Citing a study by the University of California-Berkeley, Pernia said mortality rates among baby girls increase when calamities and disasters strike the country.

 

“A recent study suggests that mortality rates of baby girls in the Philippines spike over at least two years after typhoons, as families struggle to make ends meet and stretch their resources thin among many children,” he said.

 

The risk of a baby girl dying after a typhoon doubles if she has elder sisters, and doubles yet again if she has elder brothers, he added.

 

“Problems associated with gender-based violence and lack of reproductive health care that beset women and children rise sharply in the aftermath of typhoons… Unless these problems are addressed adequately and in a timely manner, these people along with their families can be expected to plunge deeper into poverty,” Pernia added. — JDS/TJD, GMA News