I. INTRODUCTION
Respecting, protecting, and fulfilling women’s access to reproductive rights is essential to
achieving a healthy, equitable, and developed Philippines. The International Conference on
Population and Development Programme of Action, adopted by the Philippines in 1994,
recognized that reproductive rights are a central part of ensuring a country’s development.1
This recognition was reaffirmed in the recent Sustainable Development Goals, which call
for universal access to reproductive health and rights.2 Despite the widespread consensus
on the significance of realizing women’s reproductive rights, the Philippine restrictive
legal landscape on abortion continues to impede the country’s progress toward achieving
sustainable development.
This briefing paper discusses the grave impact of the country’s restrictive abortion laws on
women’s health and rights and the development of the nation. It highlights the critical role
Congress members can play in fulfilling the government’s obligation to realize Filipinos’
reproductive rights. This includes ensuring that the constitution and country’s penal laws
clearly legalize abortion, at a minimum, when a pregnancy endangers the life or physical or
mental health of the pregnant woman.
CONGRESS AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Law and policymakers play an essential role in ensuring the full realization of women’s and girls’ rights
and achieving a country’s health and development goals. International law recognizes that a legislator’s
political will is crucial for strengthening a country’s legal framework on women’s rights. As the principal
lawmaking body of the government, the Philippine Congress has a legal obligation to eliminate legislative
barriers and repeal laws that perpetuate gender inequality and discriminate against women,1 particularly
those that criminalize or undermine access to reproductive health and services.2 The Philippine Congress
must ensure that religious ideologies are not used as the basis for secular laws that undermine women’s
health and well-being.3 Furthermore, it must proactively enact and implement laws in accordance with
international human rights norms and standards, including those guaranteeing adequate public funding
for the implementation of projects and programs that help advance women’s rights.4 Finally, Congress
should legislate measures that address the specific needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups of
women, such as adolescent girls, rural women, poor women, and pregnant women and girls.5
CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 1