V. A WAY FORWARD FOR THE PHILIPPINES Ensuring women’s and girls’ access to abortion is a crucial step toward realizing a healthy, equitable, and developed nation. The CEDAW Committee has found that the “strict criminalization of abortion without any exemptions” in the Philippines has contributed to the “potentially life-threatening consequences of unplanned and/or unwanted pregnancies.”71 The CEDAW Committee also called on the Philippine government to “legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, threats to the life and/or health of the mother, or serious malformation of the fetus and decriminalize all other cases where women undergo abortion, as well as adopt necessary procedural rules to guarantee effective access to legal abortion.”72 Similar recommendations on the need to remove punitive abortion provisions have been expressed by other U.N. bodies and human rights experts. These bodies and individuals have recognized the deleterious effects of the country’s criminal abortion provisions and acknowledged the link between unsafe and clandestine abortions and the high number of maternal deaths in the Philippines.73 Additionally, recognizing the harms of restrictive abortion laws, the Commission on Human Rights called on the government to review the country’s laws on abortion and take note of the recommendations issued by CEDAW.74 Given the extent and gravity of the harms caused by restrictive abortion laws in the Philippines, it is essential that any efforts to review the constitution and the RPC should prioritize women’s and girls’ reproductive health and respect their fundamental rights. Although both the RPC and constitution may be interpreted to allow abortion under certain circumstances, Congress should still adopt measures to avoid further restrictive interpretations of these laws and remove any doubts on the grounds when abortion may be allowed. Congress should also ensure that there is no language in the constitution that may be construed to restrict women’s access to abortion and immediately take steps to amend the RPC in accordance with established legal norms and clearly allow abortion at a minimum in cases of pregnancies that endanger the life or physical or mental health of the woman or girl. CALL FOR CONGRESSIONAL ACTION By clarifying ambiguities in Philippine law and setting distinct legal standards, Congress can take a crucial step in realizing Filipino women’s reproductive rights and leading the country toward achieving its health and development goals. Congress should: 1 2 As a legislative body, reform the Revised Penal Code to clarify that abortion may be legally performed at a minimum in cases when the woman’s or girl’s life or physical or mental health is at risk; and As a constituent assembly, ensure that no language is included in the constitution that jeopardizes women’s and girls’ fundamental rights–particularly their right to life, health, liberty, bodily integrity, privacy, autonomy, dignity, equality, non-discrimination, and freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment–by precluding legal access to abortion. 12 REALIZING A HEALTHY, EQUAL, AND THRIVING PHILIPPINES